# National Assistance Act 1948, Section 56: Legal proceedings.

Extent: E+W+S

(1) Without prejudice to any other method of recovery, any sum due under this Act ... to a local authority ... shall be recoverable summarily as a civil debt.
(2) Notwithstanding anything in any Act, proceedings for the recovery of any sum in the manner provided by the last foregoing subsection may be brought at any time within three years after the sum became due.
(3) Offences under this Act, other than offences under section 47(11) of this Act, may be prosecuted by any council which is a local authority for the purposes of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 in Wales and offences under section 47(11) of this Act may be prosecuted by the councils referred to in section 47(12) of this Act.
(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(5) This section shall apply to Scotland with the omission in subsection (1) thereof of the word “summarily”, with the substitution for subsection (2) thereof of the following subsection—
“(2) Proceedings for the recovery of any such sum as aforesaid shall not be competent after the expiry of three years after the date when the sum became due.”
and with the omission of subsection (3) thereof.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/11-12/29/section/56 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-assistance-act-1948/section-56
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.