The Social Security (Recovery of Benefits) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

Payments into court

8.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, where a party to an action makes a payment into court which, had it been paid directly to another party to the action (“the relevant party”), would have constituted a compensation payment—

(a) the making of that payment shall be treated for the purposes of the Order as the making of a compensation payment;

(b) a current certificate of recoverable benefits shall be lodged with the payment; and

(c) where the payment is calculated under Article 10, the compensator shall give the information specified in Article 11(1) to the relevant party instead of to the person to whom the payment is made,

and in this paragraph “a current certificate of recoverable benefits” means a certificate that is in force in accordance with Article 6(4).

(2) The liability under Article 8(1) to pay an amount equal to the total amount of the recoverable benefits shall not arise until the person making the payment into court has been notified that the whole or any part of the payment into court has been paid out of court to or for the relevant party.

(3) Where a payment into court in satisfaction of his claim is accepted by the relevant party in the initial period, then as respects the compensator in question, the relevant period shall be taken to have ended, if it has not done so already, on the date on which the payment into court (or if there were two or more such payments, the last of them) was made.

(4) Where, after the expiry of the initial period, the payment into court is accepted in satisfaction of the relevant party’s claim by consent between the parties, the relevant period shall end, if it has not done so already, on the date on which the application to the court for the payment is made.

(5) Where, after the expiry of the initial period, payment out of court is made wholly or partly to or for the relevant party in accordance with an order of the court and in satisfaction of his claim, the relevant period shall end, if it has not done so already, on the date of that order.

(6) In paragraphs (3) to (5) “the initial period” means the period of 21 days after the receipt by the relevant party of notice of the payment into court having been made.

(7) Where a payment into court is paid out wholly to or for the party who made the payment (otherwise than to or for the relevant party) the making of the payment into court shall cease to be regarded as the making of a compensation payment.