The Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

Recovery of overpayments

20.  In the Administration Act, insert after section 69—

“Jobseeker’s allowance

Recovery of jobseeker’s allowance: severe hardship cases.

69A.— (1) Where—

(a) a severe hardship direction is revoked; and

(b) it is determined by an adjudication officer that—

(i) whether fraudulently or otherwise, any person has misrepresented, or failed to disclose, any material fact; and

(ii) in consequence of the failure of misrepresentation, payment of a jobseeker’s allowance has been made during the relevant period to the person to whom the direction related, an adjudication officer may determine that the Department is entitled to recover the amount of the payment.

(2) In this section—

“severe hardship direction” means a direction given under Article 18 of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995; and

“the relevant period” means—

(a)

if the revocation is under Article 18(3)(a) of that Order, the period beginning with the date of the change of circumstances and ending with the date of the revocation; and

(b)

if the revocation is under Article 18(3)(b) or (c) of that Order, the period during which the direction was in force.

(3) Where a severe hardship direction is revoked, the Department may certify whether there has been misrepresentation of a material fact or failure to disclose a material fact.

(4) If the Department certifies that there has been such misrepresentation or failure to disclose, it may certify—

(a) who made the misrepresentation or failed to make the disclosure; and

(b) whether or not a payment of jobseeker’s allowance has been made in consequence of the misrepresentation or failure.

(5) If the Department certifies that a payment has been made, it may certify the period during which a jobseeker’s allowance would not have been paid but for the misrepresentation or failure to disclose.

(6) A certificate under this section shall be conclusive as to any matter certified.

(7) Subsections (3) and (6) to (10) of section 69 above apply to a jobseeker’s allowance recoverable under subsection (1) above as they apply to a jobseeker’s allowance recoverable under section 69(1) above.

(8) The other provisions of section 69 above do not apply to a jobseeker’s allowance recoverable under subsection (1) above.”.