Marginal Citations
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
C1The text of ss.3(4)(8)(9)(12), 4(1), 6(1)(3), 9(6), 16(3)–(6), 21(4), Sch. 2 para. 32, Sch. 2 Pt. II, Schs. 4, 5 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.
(1)Where supplementary benefit is paid or claimed to meet requirements which are, or include, those of a person whom another person is, for the purposes of this Act, liable to maintain (in this section referred to respectively as “the dependant" and “the liable person") the Secretary of State may make a complaint against the liable person to a magistrates’ court for an order under this section.
(2)Except in a case falling within section 17(1)(c) of this Act, no complaint under subsection (1) above shall be made where the dependant is an illegitimate child and the liable person is his father.
(3)On the hearing of a complaint under subsection (1) above the court shall have regard to all the circumstances and, in particular, to the resources of the liable person, and may order him to pay such sum, weekly or otherwise, as it may consider appropriate, except that in a case falling within section 17(1)(c) of this Act that sum shall not include any amount which is not attributable to supplementary benefit (whether paid before or after the making of the order).
(4)In determining whether to order any payments to be made in respect of supplementary benefit for any period before the complaint was made, or the amount of any such payments, the court shall disregard any amount by which the liable person’s resources exceed the resources which were his during that period.
(5)Any payments ordered to be made under this section shall be made—
(a)to the Secretary of State in so far as they are attributable to any supplementary benefit (whether paid before or after the making of the order);
(b)to the person claiming supplementary benefit or (if different) the dependant; or
(c)to such other person as appears to the court expedient in the interests of the dependant.
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(7)An order under this section shall be enforceable as an affiliation order.
(8)In the application of this section to Scotland, subsections (2) and (7) shall be omitted, and for the references to a complaint and to a magistrates’ court there shall be substituted respectively references to an application and to the sheriff.
(1)The provisions of this section apply in any case in which supplementary benefit is paid to meet requirements which include those of an illegitimate child.
(2)If no affiliation order is in force the Secretary of State may, within three years from the time when any payment by way of supplementary benefit was made, make application to a justice of the peace acting for the petty sessions area in which the mother of the child resides for a summons to be served under section 1 of the M2Affiliation Proceedings Act 1957.
(3)In any proceedings on an application under subsection (2) above the court shall hear such evidence as the Secretary of State may produce, and shall in all other respects, subject to the provisions of subsection (4) below, proceed as on an application made by the mother under section 1 of the said Act of 1957.
(4)An affiliation order—
(a)made on an application made by the Secretary of State under subsection (2) above; or
(b)made on an application made by the Secretary of State on proceedings brought by the mother of the child under section 1 of the said Act of 1957,
may be made so as to provide that the payments, or a part of the payments, to be made under the order shall, instead of being made to the mother or a person having custody of the child, be made to the Secretary of State or to such other person as the court may direct.
(5)Any affiliation order, whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, may, on the application of the Secretary of State, be varied so as to provide for the making of payments, or part thereof, as mentioned in subsection (4) above; and an application by the Secretary of State under this subsection may be made—
(a)notwithstanding that the mother has died and no person has been appointed to have the custody of the child; and
(b)where the child is not in the care of the mother and she is not contributing to his maintenance, without making her a party to the proceedings.
(6)Any affiliation order which provides for the making of payments, or part thereof, as mentioned in subsection (4) above may, on the application of the mother of the child, be varied so as to provide that the payments shall be made to the mother or a person having custody of the child.
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(8)In the application of this section to Scotland, the following provisions shall have effect in substitution for subsections (2) to (6) above—
(a)the Secretary of State shall have the like right as the mother to raise an action of affiliation and aliment concluding for payment of aliment for the child;
(b)where any action of affiliation and aliment in respect of the child, whether at the instance of the Secretary of State under the foregoing paragraph or at the instance of the mother, the sheriff grants or has granted decree against any person for payment of aliment for the child, the sheriff may at the time of granting the decree or at any subsequent time on the application of the Secretary of State, order that the sums due under the decree or any part thereof shall, instead of being paid to the mother of the child, be paid to the Secretary of State or to such other person as the sheriff may direct;
(c)if such an order is made in favour of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State, or, if it is made in favour of another person, that person, shall have the like right to enforce the decree (so far as relating to the said sums) by diligence, including the right to take proceedings under the M3Civil Imprisonment (Scotland) Act 1882, as if the decree were a decree in favour of the Secretary of State or other person.
(1)If, whether fraudulently or otherwise, any person misrepresents, or fails to disclose, any material fact, and in consequence of the misrepresentation or failure—
(a)the Secretary of State incurs any expenditure under this Act; or
(b)any sum recoverable under this Act by or on behalf of the Secretary of State is not recovered,
the Secretary of State shall be entitled to recover the amount thereof from that person.
(2)If, whether in connection with any legal proceedings or otherwise, any question arises whether any amount paid by way of supplementary benefit is recoverable by the Secretary of State under this section, or as to the amount so recoverable, the question shall be determined by a benefit officer.
(3)A person from whom, in pursuance of a determination of a benefit officer under the preceding subsection, an amount is recoverable under this section may appeal to the Appeal Tribunal against the determination; and subsection (3) of section 15 of this Act shall apply to an appeal under this subsection as it applies to an appeal under that section.
(4)Where any amount paid by way of supplementary benefit is recoverable under this section, it may, without prejudice to any other method of recovery, be recovered by deduction from prescribed benefits.
(5)Subsections (2) and (3) of this section shall apply to any question as to whether any amount or what amount is recoverable by the Secretary of State under section 45 of the M4National Assistance Act 1948 or section 26 of the M5Supplementary Benefit Act 1966 (which contain provisions corresponding to subsection (1) of this section) and subsection (4) of this section shall apply to an amount recoverable by the Secretary of State under either of those sections—
(a)as if for any reference in those subsections to this section there were substituted references to the said section 45 or 26, as the case may be; and
(b)as respects a question relating to recovery under the said section 45 and an amount recoverable under that section, as if the words “paid by way of supplementary benefit" in subsections (2) and (4) of this section were omitted.”