The claimant council sought re-imbursement from the Secretary of the excess housing benefit payments it had made to claimants. The system expected the Council to have made referrals of high rents to rent officers. The respondent had decided that it had been a failure to make such referrals had led to the overpayments, and that the Council had received benefit. The Council replied that it had received nothing which it had not paid on, and that a failure to make repayment, even of a part of the overpayment, would cause it hardship.
Held: The decision taken by the Secretary of State was lawful, and nor was there any other adequate reason to quash the decision to recover the sum demanded.
Judges:
The Hon Mr Justice Lindsay
Citations:
[2003] EWHC 2518 (Admin)
Links:
Statutes:
Social Security Contributions & Benefits Act 1992 123(1)(d) 123(3)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, ex parte Hook CA 1976
The applicant applied to have quashed the decision of the local council to exclude him from trading in the market and to revoke his right to have a stall.
Held: He succeeded on the grounds that the decision had been taken in breach of the . .
Cited – Regina v Brent London Boriugh Council, ex parte Assegai 1987
A committee of the Borough resolved to ban Mr Assegai, who had been involved in a fracas and had made offensive remarks to two Councillors, from visiting any of the Borough’s properties. The resolution also purported to remove him from his . .
Cited – Regina (on the application of Waite) v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council CA 2002
As to the distribution of benefits, ‘ . . the distribution of State benefit lies peculiarly within the constitutional responsibility of elected Government’. . .
Cited – Wilson v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry; Wilson v First County Trust Ltd (No 2) HL 10-Jul-2003
The respondent appealed against a finding that the provision which made a loan agreement completely invalid for lack of compliance with the 1974 Act was itself invalid under the Human Rights Act since it deprived the respondent lender of its . .
Cited – Regina v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Commissioners of Customs and Excise, ex parte National Farmers’ Union and others ECJ 5-May-1998
Land from which nitrates were leeching off into rivers causing pollution, had to be designated as environmentally vulnerable land, if agricultural activities were a substantial even if only partially cause of the pollution. ‘As regards . . . the . .
Cited – Regina (Annette Carson) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Admn 22-May-2002
The claimant received a UK state pension. She lived in South Africa, and challenged the exclusion of foreign resident pensioners from the annual uprating of pension benefits. She asserted that the state pension, or its uprating, were pecuniary . .
Cited by:
Cited – London Borough of Lambeth, Regina (on the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Admn 20-Apr-2005
The authority had received too much by way of housing benefit subsidy in 1991 and 1992, having failed to refer rents to rent officers. It now challenged the decision of the respondent to recover the overpayment by deductions from future payments. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Local Government, Benefits
Updated: 08 June 2022; Ref: scu.187276