The Child Support and Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Amendment of the Child Support (Transitional Provisions) Regulations

8.—(1) The Child Support (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001(1) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (9).

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) –

(a) after the definition of “the Act” there shall be inserted the following definition –

““the Arrears, Interest and Adjustment Regulations” means the Child Support (Arrears, Interest and Adjustment of Maintenance Assessments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(2);”; and

(b) in the definition of “new amount” for “in accordance with the conversion decision” there shall be substituted “from the case conversion date”.

(3) In regulation 3(3) (decision and notice of decision) for paragraph (2) there shall be substituted the following paragraph –

“(2) Where the Department acts in accordance with paragraph (1), the information used for the purposes of that supersession will be –

(a) that held by the Department on the calculation date; or

(b) where –

(i) regulation 5(b) applies, and

(ii) the Department is unable to make the decision required to be made in accordance with that regulation on the basis of the information referred to in sub-paragraph (a),

that which was used or considered to make the maintenance assessment to be superseded in accordance with regulation 3(1)(a) or (b).”.

(4) After regulation 4(4) (revision, supersession and appeal of conversion decisions) there shall be inserted the following regulation –

“Revision and supersession of an adjustment

4A.   Where, on or after the calculation date, an application is made to the Department or it acts on its own initiative to revise or supersede an adjustment of the amounts payable under a maintenance assessment, it may revise or supersede that adjustment in accordance with the Decisions and Appeals Regulations.”.

(5) After regulation 5 (outstanding applications at calculation date) there shall be inserted the following regulation –

“Outstanding revisions and supersessions at calculation date

5A.   Regulation 5 shall apply in the same way to a decision of the Department acting on its own initiative under Article 18 or 19 of the former Order to revise or supersede a maintenance assessment, an interim maintenance assessment or a departure direction as it does to an application made for the same purpose.”.

(6) In regulation 9(1)(5) (amount of child support maintenance payable) for “Where” there shall be substituted “Subject to regulation 9A, where”.

(7) After regulation 9 there shall be inserted the following regulations –

“Adjustment of the amount of child support maintenance payable

9A.— (1) Subject to paragraph (2), where –

(a) there has been an overpayment of child support maintenance under a maintenance assessment; and

(b) the amount payable under that maintenance assessment has been adjusted under regulation 10 of the Arrears, Interest and Adjustment Regulations(6) as it applies to a maintenance assessment,

that adjustment shall apply to the new amount or the transitional amount in the conversion decision, as the case may be, if –

(i) the overpayment remains on the case conversion date, and

(ii) the Department considers it appropriate in all the circumstances of the case having regard to the matters set out in regulation 10(1)(b) of the Arrears, Interest and Adjustment Regulations as it applies to a conversion decision.

(2) Where the conversion decision relates to more than one parent with care, the adjustment of the amount payable under a maintenance assessment which applies to the new amount or the transitional amount, as the case may be, in accordance with paragraph (1) shall only apply in respect of the apportioned amount payable to the parent with care in relation to whom the maintenance assessment subject to the adjustment was made.

(3) In paragraph (2) the “apportioned amount” shall have the meaning given in regulation 11(4)(7).

Attribution of payments

9B.   Where –

(a) there are arrears of child support maintenance under a maintenance assessment; and

(b) the Department has attributed any payment of child support maintenance made by an absent parent to child support maintenance due as it thinks fit, in accordance with regulation 9(8) of the Arrears, Interest and Adjustment Regulations as it applies to a maintenance assessment,

that attribution of payments shall apply to the new amount or the transitional amount in the conversion decision, as the case may be, if –

(i) the arrears remain on the case conversion date, and

(ii) the Department has made that attribution of payments as it thought fit, in accordance with regulation 9 of the Arrears, Interest and Adjustment Regulations as it applies to a conversion decision.”.

(8) In regulation 16(9) (conversion calculation and conversion decision) –

(a) in paragraph (1) for sub-paragraph (b) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph –

“(b) taking into account the information used in accordance with regulation 3(2); and”; and

(b) after paragraph (2B)(10) there shall be inserted the following paragraph –

“(2C) For the purposes of regulations 9 and 10 of the Arrears, Interest and Adjustment Regulations, a conversion decision shall be treated on or after the case conversion date as if it were a maintenance calculation.”.

(9) In regulation 27 (subsequent decision with effect in transitional period-amount payable) –

(a) in paragraph (9)(11), for “Subject to paragraph (10), where” there shall be substituted “Where”;

(b) in paragraph (10)(12) –

(i) for “Where” there shall be substituted “Subject to paragraph (11), where”, and

(ii) for the words from “so that the subsequent decision” to the end there shall be substituted “as if decision A had not been made.”; and

(c) after paragraph (10) there shall be added the following paragraph –

“(11) In the circumstances set out in paragraph (10), paragraph (9) shall not apply where the decision in place before decision A was made was the decision which took effect from the case conversion date.”.

(1)

S.R. 2001 No. 19; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 2002 No. 164, and S.R. 2003 Nos. 84, 91 and 469

(2)

S.R. 1992 No. 342

(3)

Regulation 3 was amended by regulation 10(3) of S.R. 2003 No. 84

(4)

Regulation 4 was amended by regulation 9(2) of S.R. 2002 No. 164

(5)

Regulation 9 was amended by regulation 9(3) of S.R. 2002 No. 164

(6)

Regulation 10 was substituted by regulation 3(3) of S.R. 1995 No. 162 and amended by Article 10(4) of S.R. 1999 No. 246 (C. 20), regulation 2(10) of S.R. 2001 No. 15 and regulation 4(a) of S.R. 2001 No. 23

(7)

Regulation 11 was amended by regulation 10(5) of S.R. 2003 No. 84

(8)

Regulation 9 was amended by regulation 2(9) of S.R. 2001 No. 15

(9)

Regulation 16 was amended by regulation 10(7) of S.R. 2003 No. 84 and regulation 3 of S.R. 2003 No. 91

(10)

Paragraph (2B) was inserted by regulation 3 of S.R. 2003 No. 91

(11)

Paragraph (9) was added by regulation 10(11) of S.R. 2003 No. 84 and amended by regulation 7(7)(a) of S.R. 2003 No. 469

(12)

Paragraph (10) was added by regulation 7(7)(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 469