The applicants were in turn the recipient of a Social Fund loan and a claimant who had been overpaid benefit. Both were later declared bankrupt. The Secretary of State then began to recover the loan and overpayment by deduction from their current benefits. They argued that he was unable to do so because of section 285(3) of the 1986 Act: that the right of deduction was a ‘remedy against the property or person of the bankrupt in respect of that debt’.
Held: Their entitlement was only to the net amount of benefit after deduction of the loan or overpayment and not to the full amount.
Judges:
Keene J
Citations:
Times 05-Feb-1996, [1997] BPIR 505
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Bradley-Hole v Cusen CA 1953
The creditor was a tenant of rent-controlled premises who had been charged too much rent by his landlord. The bankrupt landlord’s trustee argued that the claim in respect of overpaid rent had been converted into a right to prove the debt in the . .
Cited by:
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Payne and Another SC 14-Dec-2011
The appellant sought to recover overpayments of benefits and Social Fund Loans, after the respondent had had a Debt relief order.
Held: The Secretary of State’s appeal failed. The ‘net entitlement principle’ argued for did not exist. The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Benefits, Insolvency
Updated: 28 June 2022; Ref: scu.467179
