Judgment

Local authority paid benefits on basis that mother was not receiving child support. Child support arrears paid. Held that local authority could recover the overpayment of benefits in such circumstances. KW v Lancaster City Council and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2011] UKUT 266 (AAC) (4 July 2011)

“The mother was paid both housing benefit and council tax benefit on the basis that she was not receiving child support. She was not receiving child support at the time, however, the Child Support Agency eventually got a substantial lump sum from the father by way of arrears (£34,408.64), covering the relevant period. A large part of the arrears (£23,779.75) was paid directly to the mother. The local authority then sought to recover the relevant benefit payments (over £17,000) as overpayments.”

(Upper Tribunal; Nicholas Wikeley; 4 July 2011)

Held that as a matter of principle the local authority could recover the overpayment of benefits in such circumstances. Read More>>>

Family justice: What We Can Do To Protect Our Children

Judgment (Spelling)

In a non-legal context, spelling differs between countries. The spelling judgement (with e added) is common in the United Kingdom in a non-legal context. The spelling judgment without the e is however often listed first and in any case without comment or regional restriction in major UK dictionaries.[4][5][6] In British English, the spelling judgment is correct when referring to a court’s or judge’s formal ruling, whereas the spelling judgement is used for other meanings.