Introduction to Reported Decisions Of The Social Security Commissioners and Child Support Commissioners 1978 to 1999

This is an electronic version of the bound volume containing reported Social Security Commissioners’ and Child Support Commissioners’ decisions in Northern Ireland.  The decisions have been selected by the respective Chief Commissioners during the period 1978 to 1999 for publication. They are for the guidance of the independent statutory authorities and Departmental decision makers.

To aid research the Contents pages of the bound volume lists decisions by benefit and then topic headings. Those pages are replicated in this electronic version as the By Benefit view. A decision can be read in Word format by clicking on the appropriate decision number.

Reported decisions from the year 2000 can be purchased from the Stationery Office at 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD for a small price. It is intended in the future that reported Northern Ireland decisions will be incorporated in the GB bound volumes, which will be published biennially.

Headnotes of the decisions are provided only for the reader's convenience. A headnote does not share the authority of the text, nor does it form part of the decision to which it relates.

The decisions in this volume are printed in alphabetical order according to the suffix. Within each group, the decisions are arranged numerically in year order. In some years, there may be no reported decisions in a particular group. For various reasons it was decided not to report decisions R1 / 99 (IB), R3 / 99 (IB), R6 / 99 (IB) and R13 / 86 (Supp Ben).

The appropriate suffix for each of the subject groups is as follows:

Claims for the benefits and child support maintenance listed above were decided by independent statutory authorities, namely adjudication officers, child support officers, social security appeal tribunals, medical appeal tribunals, disability appeal tribunals, child support appeal tribunals, Social Security Commissioners and Child Support Commissioners. The Department had no jurisdiction in matters reserved under the legislation to these authorities. Following the introduction of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 radical changes were made to the adjudication system. Decision makers replaced adjudication officers and now make all decisions on behalf of the Department. The various Appeal Tribunals have now been replaced by a unified appeal Tribunal system. The Chief Commissioner and Commissioners are appointed by the Crown. The Northern Ireland Court Service is responsible for the administration of the Commissioners’ office.

Since 1984 an appeal from a tribunal may be brought to a Commissioner only on the grounds that a question of law arises, and with leave of the tribunal chairman or, if refused, a Commissioner.

A Commissioner may grant a request for, or direct, an oral hearing of the appeal. Where the Chief Commissioner considers that an appeal involves a question of law of special difficulty, he may direct that the appeal be heard by a Tribunal of Commissioners. If the decision of a tribunal is not unanimous, the decision of the majority is the decision of the Tribunal. When only two Commissioners are involved, the decision of the presiding member, usually the Chief Commissioner, prevails.

Social Security Commissioners are also responsible for determining questions under the Forfeiture (Northern Ireland) Order 1982, as to whether a person who has unlawfully killed another should be precluded from acquiring a social security benefit. Commissioners may either apply the forfeiture rule in full or modify it according to the circumstances of the case.

Under Article 234 of the Treaty of the European Union the Commissioner may refer questions of interpretation of Community law to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling before reaching a decision.

12. There is a right of appeal from a Commissioner’s decision on a question of law to the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal, and thereafter to the House of Lords. Where appropriate the relevant judgment is appended to the Commissioner’s decision.

© Crown Copyright Reserved. Copyright subsists in all Commissioners’ decisions. Individual copies of decisions published on this database may be made for use solely in pending legal proceedings or academic research, and reasonable excerpts quoted in the press provided the source is acknowledged.

OTHER REPRODUCTION OR PUBLICATION IN ANY FORM WITHOUT EXPRESS PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED.