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

Part X Miscellaneous

Regular payments condition

45.—(1) For the purposes of Article 28C(2)(b) of the Order (regular payments condition — reduced payments), reduced payments shall, subject to paragraph (3), be such payments as would be equal to the payments of child support maintenance fixed by the fresh maintenance assessment that would be made if the circumstances of the case were those set out in paragraph (2).

(2) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a) the Department is satisfied that the case is one which falls within paragraph 2 of Schedule 4B to the Order (special expenses);

(b) the Department is satisfied that the expenses claimed by the absent parent are both being incurred and, for a case falling within regulation 13 (costs incurred in travelling to work), 14 (contact costs) or 15 (illness or disability), are neither unreasonably high nor being unreasonably incurred, and that it is just and equitable to give a departure direction in respect of the whole of those expenses; and

(c) a departure direction is given in response to the application.

(3) Where the Department considers it likely that the expenses incurred by the absent parent are lower than those claimed by him or are not reasonably incurred, it may fix such amount as it considers to be reasonable in all the circumstances of the case.

(4) Where the absent parent, following written notice under Article 28C(8) of the Order, fails within 28 days of that notice to comply with the regular payments condition that was imposed on him, the application shall lapse.

Special case — departure direction having effect from date earlier than effective date of current assessment

46.—(1) A case shall be treated as a special case for the purposes of the Order if the conditions specified in paragraph (2) are satisfied.

(2) The conditions are—

(a) liability to pay child support maintenance commenced earlier than the effective date of the maintenance assessment in force (“the current assessment”);

(b) an application is made or treated as made in relation to the current assessment which results in a departure direction being given in respect of that assessment;

(c) the applicant was unable to make an application on a date falling within a period in respect of which an earlier assessment had effect because he had not been notified of that earlier assessment during that period; and

(d) if the applicant had been able to make such an application and had done so, the Department is satisfied that a departure direction would have been given in response to that application.

(3) Where a case falls within paragraph (2), references to “the current assessment” and “the current amount” in these Regulations shall be construed as including references to an earlier assessment falling within paragraph (2)(c) and to the amount of child support maintenance fixed by it, and these Regulations shall be applied to such an earlier assessment accordingly.