Amendment of the Child Support (Information, Evidence and Disclosure) Regulations2

1

The Child Support (Information, Evidence and Disclosure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19924 shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (11).

2

For “absent parent” wherever it appears there shall be substituted “non-resident parent” preceded, where appropriate by “a” instead of “an”.

3

Subject to paragraphs (4)(b)(ii), (5)(a) and (b) and (6)(b)(i), for “assessment” wherever it appears there shall be substituted “calculation”.

4

In regulation 1(2) (interpretation)—

a

for the definitions of “Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations” and “Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations” there shall be substituted the following definitions—

  • “Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations” means the Child Support (Maintenance Calculation Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 20015;

  • “Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations” means the Child Support (Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 20016

b

in the definition of “relevant person”—

i

in paragraph (c) for “regulation 20 of the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations” there shall be substituted “regulation 8 of the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations”, and

ii

for the words from “a maintenance assessment” to the end there shall be substituted “a maintenance calculation has been applied for, or has been treated as applied for under Article 9(3) of the Order7, or is or has been in force.”.

5

In regulation 2(2) (persons under a duty to furnish information or evidence)—

a

in sub-paragraph (b)8 for “assessment has been made” in the first place where it appears there shall be substituted “calculation has been made, or has been treated as made”;

b

in sub-paragraphs (c) and (cc)9 “or the parent with care” shall be omitted and for “assessment has been made” in the first place where it appears there shall be substituted “calculation has been made, or has been treated as made”;

c

in sub-paragraph (d) at the beginning there shall be inserted “the appropriate authority or” and for the words “the matter” to the end there shall be substituted “the matters listed in sub-paragraphs (a), (d), (e), (f) and (h) of regulation 3(1)”; and

d

after sub-paragraph (e) there shall be added the following sub-paragraphs—

f

a person who acts or has acted as an accountant for the absent parent, including where that person is self-employed, in relation to any business accounts of that parent with respect to the matters listed in sub-paragraphs (e), (f) and (h) of regulation 3(1);

g

a company or partnership for whom the absent parent is providing or has provided services under a contract for services with respect to the matters listed in sub-paragraphs (e) and (f) of regulation 3(1);

h

persons employed in the service of the Crown or otherwise in the discharge of Crown functions—

i

under Articles 13 to 15 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 198110 or Part II of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 199411 with respect to the matter listed in sub-paragraph (e) of regulation 3(1), or

ii

under the Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 195312 with respect to the matter listed in sub-paragraph (e) of regulation 3(1).

6

In regulation 3 (purposes for which information or evidence may be required)—

a

in paragraph (1)—

i

in sub-paragraph (aa)13 after “maintenance order” there shall be inserted “made on or after the date prescribed for the purposes of Article 7(10)(a) of the Order14 which has been in force for at least a year from the date it was made”;

ii

in sub-paragraph (f) for “assessed” there shall be substituted “calculated”, and

iii

after sub-paragraph (k) there shall be added the following sub-paragraph—

l

a determination as to who is in receipt of child benefit, payable under Part IX of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 199215 either for a child who may be a relevant other child for the purposes of Schedule 1 to the Order16, or for the qualifying child where a parent may fall to be treated as a non-resident parent under the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations.

b

in paragraph (2)—

i

in sub-paragraphs (a), (b) and (e) for the words from “an application” to “made” there shall be substituted “the maintenance calculation has been applied for, or has been treated as applied for”;

ii

in sub-paragraph (g) “or a parent with care,” shall be omitted;

iii

in sub-paragraph (h)17 “or parent with care” shall be omitted;

iv

in sub-paragraph (i) “and a parent with care” shall be omitted;

v

sub-paragraphs (j), (m), (n), (o), (p) and (s)18 shall be omitted;

vi

in sub-paragraph (l) “or living in the same household as the parent with care” and “or the parent with care, as the case may be,” shall be omitted;

vii

in sub-paragraph (q) “or the person with care” shall be omitted;

viii

in sub-paragraph (r)(i) “or should be cancelled” shall be omitted.

7

In regulation 3A19 (contents of request for information or evidence) at the end there shall be inserted “including details of the offences provided for in Article 16A of the Order20 for failing to provide, or providing false, information.”.

8

Regulation 4 (information from an appropriate authority in connection with housing benefit) shall be omitted.

9

In regulation 5(1)21 (time within which information or evidence is to be furnished) for “regulations 2(5) and 6(1) of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations” there shall be substituted “regulation 3(4) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations”.

10

In regulation 622 (continuing duty of persons with care) the words “or should be cancelled” in both places where they appear shall be omitted.

11

In regulation 9A23 (disclosure of information to other persons)—

a

in paragraph (1)—

i

in sub-paragraph (a)24 for the words from “why” to “Order”, in the first place where it appears, there shall be substituted “why it has decided not to make a maintenance calculation in response to an application made under Article 7 of the Order25 or treated as made under Article 9 of the Order”;

ii

in sub-paragraph (c)26 “or has been cancelled” shall be omitted;

iii

in sub-paragraph (d) for “regulation 10 of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations” there shall be substituted “regulation 23 of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations”;

b

in paragraph (2)(c)(ii)27 for “departure direction” there shall be substituted “variation”.