Bohnstedt and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)

In *Bohnstedt and Secretary, Department of Social Services (Social services second review)*, Deputy President Bernard J McCabe considered an application concerning the repayment of a family tax benefit debt. The applicant sought to have the debt written off or waived, arguing severe financial hardship and special circumstances.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant's circumstances constituted "special circumstances" that would justify an exception to the general rule of debt recovery under the relevant social security legislation. The Tribunal was required to determine if the applicant's financial pressure, or the fact that his children were withheld from him in January 2014, amounted to such special circumstances as to warrant the debt being waived or written off.

The Tribunal found that while the applicant was experiencing financial pressure, this alone was insufficient to satisfy the requirements of s 101(b) of the legislation, which mandates that financial hardship is not enough on its own to justify an exception. Furthermore, the Tribunal was not satisfied that the withholding of the children in January 2014 constituted a special circumstance that would justify the exercise of discretion to waive or write off the debt.

Consequently, the decision under review was set aside to allow for the recalculation of the debt to accurately reflect findings made in related proceedings. However, the Tribunal concluded that there was no basis to write off the recalculated debt under s 95 or waive it under s 96.