My client was succesfully prosecuted for benefit fraud 12 years ago. She has not kept any paperwork so I do not know whether (what would in those days have been) an Adjudication Officer's decision was ever given relating to the o/p and it's recoverability. Debt recovery have recently written seeking recovery of the overpayment, including threatening civil court action. What is the legal position as regards time limits for such action in these circumstances?

I think (but am not at all sure) that the statute of limitations applies. If it does and no payments have been made on the debt and it has not been acknowledged in any other way for 6 years then legal action will fail. I suppose they may try the common law recovery route, on which there have been some threads on here recently.

The case is probably statute barred as far as recovery of a debt through the civil courts is concerned (subject indeed to no payments having been made and no written acknowledgement.) However recovery under s 71 of the Social Security Admin Act is not subject to time limits. And I am not sure whether an action for recovery of proerty fraudulently obtained is subjet to limitations either.

Court action, rather than using the s 71 procedure, is I think what is meant by "common law recovery". And if there is a way of getting the money back (like,as it might be, deducting it from money owed to the person in question), then the limitation act does not apply to that anyway. The right of recovery is not extinguished by the Act, only the right to get the court to enforce a standard debt.