The Child Support Departure Direction and Consequential Amendments Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996

Amendment of the Child Support Appeal Tribunals (Procedure) Regulations

53.—(1) The Child Support Appeal Tribunals (Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993(1) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (11).

(2) In regulation 1(2) (citation, commencement and interpretation)—

(a) in the definition of “party to the proceedings”—

(i) in sub-paragraph (c) after “officer” there shall be inserted “except where the proceedings relate only to an appeal under Article 28H of the Order or to a referral”;

(ii) after sub-paragraph (c) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(cc) the Department where the proceedings relate to an appeal under Article 28H of the Order;”;

(b) in the definition of “proceedings” for “or application” there shall be substituted “, application or referral”;

(c) after the definition of “proceedings” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““referral” means a reference by the Department to a tribunal under Article 28D(1)(b) of the Order;”; and

(d) in the definition of “tribunal” after “Article 23 of” there shall be inserted “or regulations made under paragraph 9 of Schedule 4A to,”.

(3) In regulation 3 (making an appeal or application and time limits)—

(a) in paragraph (1)(a)(2) after “Article 22(1)” there shall be inserted “, 28H(1)”; and

(b) in paragraph (5) for “as the case may be, paragraph (4)” there shall be substituted “(4) or in Article 22(2) or 28H(3) of the Order, as the case may be”.

(4) In regulation 5(3) (directions)—

(a) in paragraph (1) after “a chairman may” there shall be inserted “, subject to paragraph (3),”;

(b) in paragraph (2) after “may” there shall be inserted “, subject to paragraph (3),”; and

(c) after paragraph (2) there shall be added the following paragraphs—

“(3) In the case of an appeal under Article 28H of the Order or of a referral, as the case may be, a direction requiring the Department to provide information shall have effect only if that information is information of which it is aware or which it has in its possession in connection with its functions under the Order.

(4) Where a chairman is considering whether to give a direction under paragraph (1) or the terms of any direction, he may direct that an oral hearing be held by a tribunal to determine whether a direction shall be given under that paragraph and the terms of any direction which may be given.

(5) The provisions of these Regulations shall apply to a hearing held under the provisions of paragraph (4).”.

(5) In regulation 6 after paragraph (1B)(4) (striking out of proceedings) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(1C) In the case of an appeal under Article 28H of the Order, no direction shall be given under paragraph (1B) requiring the Department to provide information other than information of which it is aware of which it has in its possession in connection with its functions under the Order.”.

(6) In regulation 7 (withdrawal of appeals and applications)—

(a) in paragraph (1)(b)(5) in heads (i) and (ii) after “child support officer” there shall be inserted “or, in the case of an appeal under Article 28H of the Order, the Department”; and

(b) in paragraph (1A)(6) after “child support officer” there shall be inserted “or, in the case of an appeal under Article 28H of the Order, the Department”.

(7) In regulation 10(1) (summoning of witnesses) for the words “appeal or application” wherever they appear there shall be substituted “appeal, application or referral”.

(8) In regulation 11(7) (hearings)—

(a) in paragraphs (1), (2A) and (2B) for the words “appeal or application” wherever they appear there shall be substituted “appeal, application or referral”; and

(b) in paragraph (8) after sub-paragraph (d) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph—

“(dd) any person undergoing training to enable him to act in the name of the Department in relation to applications for a departure direction under Article 28A of the Order and any person acting on behalf of the Department in the training or supervision of persons undergoing that training or in the monitoring of standards of decisions made by persons on behalf of the Department in relation to those applications;”.

(9) After regulation 11 there shall be inserted the following regulations—

“Hearing by chairman sitting alone

11A.— (1) The prescribed circumstances for the purpose of paragraph 9 of Schedule 4A to the Order (child support appeal tribunals) are—

(a) in relation to a referral, where an application has been made on the grounds set out in paragraph 3 or 4 of Schedule 4B to the Order;

(b) in relation to an appeal under Article 28H of the Order, where that appeal is against the rejection of an application by the Department under Article 28B(2) of the Order or a decision of the Department on an application made on the grounds set out in paragraph 3 or 4 of Schedule 4B to the Order; or

(c) in relation to an appeal under Article 28H of the Order or to any referral, where a chairman has directed that an oral hearing be held by a tribunal under regulation 5(4).

(2) Where the circumstances set out in paragraph (1)(a), (b) or (c) apply, a chairman may decide that the appeal or referral shall be dealt with by a tribunal constituted by the chairman of the tribunal sitting alone.

Consideration of more than one appeal under Article 28H of the Order

11B.   A tribunal which is considering an appeal under Article 28H of the Order in respect of a departure direction which relates to a maintenance assessment may, if it considers it appropriate to do so, consider at the same time any appeal under that Article in respect of another departure direction which relates to the same maintenance assessment.”.

(10) In regulation 13(8) (decisions)—

(a) in paragraph (3A) for “and of the terms of any direction under Article 22(4) of the Order” there shall be substituted “, of the terms of any direction under Article 22(4) of the Order and of the terms of any decision made by the tribunal under Article 28H(4)(c) of the Order or on a referral”;

(b) after paragraph (3E) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(3F) Paragraphs (1) and (3D) shall not apply where the tribunal is constituted in accordance with the provisions of regulation 11A.”; and

(c) for paragraph (4) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(4) A child support officer may apply to the tribunal or another tribunal for directions or further directions and the tribunal may give such directions or further directions as it thinks fit where the child support officer—

(a) to whom a case is referred by the Department under Article 22(3) of the Order (procedure following a successful appeal) is uncertain, having regard to the terms of the decision and of any directions contained in it, how he should deal with the case; or

(b) who has been notified of a decision of a tribunal on an appeal under Article 28H of the Order or on a referral is uncertain, having regard to the terms of that decision or of any departure direction given by that tribunal, how he should deal with the case.”.

(11) In regulation 14 (corrections)—

(a) in paragraph (1) after “Subject to” there shall be inserted “paragraph (3) and”; and

(b) after paragraph (2) there shall be added the following paragraph—

“(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply to referrals.”.

(1)

S.R. 1993 No. 50; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 1995 No. 162 and S.R. 1996 Nos. 24 and 457

(2)

Paragraph (1) was substituted by regulation 2(3) of S.R. 1995 No. 162

(3)

Regulation 5 was amended by regulation 2(3) of S.R. 1996 No. 457

(4)

Paragraph (1B) was inserted by regulation 2(4)(b) of S.R. 1996 No. 457

(5)

Sub-paragraph (b) was substituted by regulation 2(5)(a) of S.R. 1996 No. 457

(6)

Paragraph (1A) was inserted by regulation 2(5)(b) of S.R. 1996 No. 457

(7)

Regulation 11(1) was amended by regulation 2(7) of S.R. 1996 No. 457

(8)

Regulation 13 was amended by regulation 3 of S.R. 1996 No. 24 and regulation 2(8) of S.R. 1996 No. 457