Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992

74 Recovery of social fund awards. N.I.

(1) A social fund award which is repayable shall be recoverable by the Department.

(2) Without prejudice to any other method of recovery, the Department may recover an award by deduction from prescribed benefits.

(3) The Department may recover an award—

(a) from the person to or for the benefit of whom it was made;

(b) where that person is a member of a married or unmarried couple, from the other member of the couple;

(c) from a person who is liable to maintain the person by or on behalf of whom the application for the award was made or any person in relation to whose needs the award was made.

[F1 (3A) Where—

(a) a jobseeker’s allowance is payable to a person from whom an award is recoverable under subsection (3) above; and

(b) that person is subject to a bankruptcy order, a sum deducted from that benefit under subsection (2) above shall not be treated as income of his for the purposes of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989.]

(4) Payments to meet funeral expenses may in all cases be recovered, as if they were funeral expenses, out of the estate of the deceased, and (subject to section 69 above) by no other means.

(5) In this section—

• “married couple” means a man and woman who are married to each other and are members of the same household;

• “unmarried couple” means a man and woman who are not married to each other but are living together as husband and wife otherwise than in prescribed circumstances within the meaning of section 133 of the Contributions and Benefits Act.

(6) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a man shall be liable to maintain his wife and any children of whom he is the father;

(b) a woman shall be liable to maintain her husband and any children of whom she is the mother;

(c) a person shall be liable to maintain another person throughout any period in respect of which the M1 first-mentioned person has, on or after 24th June 1980 (the date of the making of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1980) and either alone or jointly with a further person, given an undertaking in writing in pursuance of immigration rules within the meaning of the M2 Immigration Act 1971 to be responsible for the maintenance and accommodation of the other person; and

(d) “child” includes a person who has attained the age of 16 but not the age of 19 and in respect of whom either parent, or some person acting in the place of either parent, is receiving income support [F2 or an income-based jobseeker’s allowance].

[F3 (7) Any reference in subsection (6) to children of whom the man or the woman is the father or the mother shall be construed in accordance with Article 155 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.]

(8) A document bearing a certificate which—

(a) is signed by a person authorised in that behalf by the Secretary of State; and

(b) states that the document apart from the certificate is, or is a copy of, such an undertaking as is mentioned in subsection (6)(c) above,

shall be conclusive of the undertaking in question for the purposes of this section and section 101 below; and a certificate purporting to be so signed shall be deemed to be so signed until the contrary is proved.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 74(3A) inserted (7.10.1996) by S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15), art. 33(2) ; S.R. 1996/401, art. 2,

F2 Words in s. 74(6) inserted (17.7.1996) by S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15), art. 40(1), Sch. 2, para. 34; S.R. 1996/285, art. 2, Sch.

F3 S. 74(7) substituted (1.7.1995) by S.I. 1995/755 (N.I. 2), art. 185(1), Sch. 9 para. 186; S.R. 1995/248, art. 2

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 1980/870 (N.I. 8).

M2 1971 c. 77.