The claimant had received an overpayment of benefits (Job seeker’s allowance), but then was made bankrupt. He now said that this was a debt in the bankruptcy.
Held: It was not. At the date of the bankruptcy order, the possible reclaim was not yet a contingent debt, and he remained liable. There was no contingent lability until the Secretary of State made his determination.
Arden LJ said that the result would have been the same if at the date of the bankruptcy there had existed a separate liability at common law to repay the benefit overpaid, from which Mr Steele would have been released by his discharge from bankruptcy: ‘I do not consider that those liabilities should be treated as a single, continuing liability for the purposes of section 281(1) of the 1986 Act’.
Judges:
Sir Martin Nourse, Arden LJ
Citations:
[2006] 1 WLR 2380, [2005] EWCA Civ 1824, Times 26-Apr-2006, [2007] 1 All ER 73
Links:
Statutes:
Social Security Administration Act 1992 71(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Glenister v Rowe CA 21-Apr-1999
The claimant sued for breach of trust. The action was re-instated after being struck out for want of prosecution, but in the meantime the defendant had been made bankrupt and then discharged from bankruptcy. An order for costs was then made which . .
Appeal from – Steele, Regina (on the Application Of) v Birmingham City Council Admn 19-Apr-2005
Action to recover overpayment of benefits: ‘whether overpaid social security benefits constitute a ‘bankruptcy debt’, and, if so, whether the benefits authorities are entitled to continue to recover overpaid social security benefits by way of . .
Cited by:
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Balding CA 13-Dec-2007
The Secretary of State appealed a decision that its reclaim of overpayments of benefit were no longer possible after the discharge from insolvency of the claimant. The overpayment had been reclaimed before bankruptcy.
Held: At the time of the . .
Cited – Haine v Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Another; Day v Haine CA 11-Jun-2008
Former employees had obtained a protective award against the company for failing to consult on the impending redundancies and submitted proofs of debt to the liquidator who sought guidance from the court. The judge had held that since the Act . .
Cited – Haine v Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Another; Day v Haine CA 11-Jun-2008
Former employees had obtained a protective award against the company for failing to consult on the impending redundancies and submitted proofs of debt to the liquidator who sought guidance from the court. The judge had held that since the Act . .
Cited – Casson and Another v The Law Society Admn 20-Oct-2009
Two solicitors had been made bankrupt and then discharged from bankruptcy. They suffered adjudications by the SDT awarding compensation for matters occurring before the bankruptcies. They appealed, saying that the awards were bankruptcy debts from . .
Cited – McCartney and Unite The Union and Another v Nortel Networks UK Ltd (In Administration) ChD 22-Apr-2010
The administrators gave employees of the company notice of termination of their employment. Then administrators refused consent under para 43(6) to actions against the company in the Northern Ireland Industrial Tribunal for protective awards, unfair . .
Cited – In re Nortel Companies and Others SC 24-Jul-2013
The court was asked as to the interrelationship of the statutory schemes relating to the protection of employees’ pensions and to corporate insolvency.
Held: Liabilities which arose from financial support directions or contribution notices . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Benefits, Insolvency
Updated: 05 July 2022; Ref: scu.239233
