England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions

1. MR JUSTICE MAURICE KAY: This is a renewed application for permission to apply for judicial review, leave having been refused on the papers by Latham J on 11th March 1999. The applicant has indicated to the Crown Office that he is not going to attend today and is content for me to adjudicate upon the papers.

2. The matter has a lengthy history and engrafted upon that history is a great deal of unhappiness on the part of Mr Bennett. Some nine years ago, when he was aged 55, he was made redundant. Thereafter he obtained some part-time work for a while, but in June 1991 he ceased to have any earned income and made application for Income Support. He has been dependent on that ever since.

3. In 1995 he reached retirement age for the purposes of an occupational pension scheme to which he had contributed and he began to receive an income from that pension scheme. He applied that monthly income to premiums in respect of a life assurance policy which he proceeded to purchase. When that was disclosed to the Department of Social Security an adjudication officer reviewed his entitlement to benefit. Without going into the details of the matter, from that moment on and notwithstanding a series of reviews and appeals, the amounts which he has been paying as an insurance premium derived from the occupational pension have been deducted from his Income Support. It seems that the amount is some £12.81 per week. The final determinations were that of a tribunal 1995 dismissing the applicant's appeal.

4. The applicant sought leave to appeal to a Commissioner, but that was refused on 23rd February 1996. The applicant applied for that decision to be set aside, but the Commissioner declined to set it aside on 22nd May 1997. As I indicated at the outset, this sequence of events has brought great unhappiness upon Mr Bennett and he undoubtedly feels a deep sense of grievance at the history which I have related.

5. He seeks to challenge that final decision and, through that, all that had gone before. On refusing leave on the papers Latham J said:

6. That, it seems to me, is a wholly accurate description and analysis of the position presently prevailing. Whatever the depth of his feelings and whatever sympathy may be due to him, the applicant has no prospect of success in his application, and permission is accordingly refused.