The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Amendment of the Child Support (Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases) Regulations

6.—(1) The Child Support (Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001(1) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (5).

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

(a) in the definition of “home” for “or a nursing home” there shall be substituted “, nursing home or an independent hospital”;

(b) after the definition of “Income Support Regulations” there shall be inserted the following definition –

““independent hospital” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 2(2) of the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003;”;

(c) for the definition of “nursing home” there shall be substituted the following definition –

““nursing home” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 11 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003;”;

(d) in the definition of “occupational pension scheme” after “1988” there shall be added “or is a statutory scheme to which section 594 of that Act applies”;

(e) for the definition of “residential care home” there shall be substituted the following definition –

““residential care home” has the meaning assigned to it by Article 10 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003;”;

(f) for the definition of “training allowance” there shall be substituted the following definition –

““training allowance” means a payment under section 1 of the Employment and Training Act (Northern Ireland) 1950(2) which is paid –

(a)

to a person for his maintenance; and

(b)

in respect of a period during which that person –

(i)

is undergoing training pursuant to arrangements made under section 1 of that Act, and

(ii)

has no net weekly income of a type referred to in Part II or III of the Schedule;”; and

(g) after the definition of “training allowance” there shall be inserted the following definition –

““war widow’s pension” means any pension or allowance payable for a widow which is –

(a)

granted in respect of a death due to service or war injury and payable by virtue of the Air Force (Constitution) Act 1917(3), the Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act 1939(4), the Pensions (Navy, Army, Air Force and Mercantile Marine) Act 1939(5), the Polish Resettlement Act 1947(6) or Part VII or section 151 of the Reserve Forces Act 1980(7);

(b)

payable under so much of any Order in Council, Royal Warrant, order or scheme as relates to death due to service in the armed forces of the Crown, wartime service in the merchant navy or war injuries;

(c)

payable in respect of death due to peacetime service in the armed forces of the Crown before 3rd September 1939, and payable at rates, and subject to conditions, similar to those of a pension within sub-paragraph (b); or

(d)

payable under the law of a country other than the United Kingdom and of a character substantially similar to a pension within sub-paragraph (a), (b) or (c),

and “war widower’s pension” shall be construed accordingly;”.

(3) In regulation 4(1)(8) (flat rate) –

(a) in sub-paragraph (e) the words “or war widow’s pension” shall be omitted; and

(b) after sub-paragraph (e) there shall be added –

“and

(f) a war widow’s pension or a war widower’s pension.”.

(4) In regulation 5(1)(f) (nil rate) for “in a residential care home or nursing home” there shall be substituted “who is resident in a residential care home, nursing home or an independent hospital”.

(5) In regulation 11 (non-resident parent liable to pay maintenance under a maintenance order) –

(a) in paragraph (3) after “applies,” there shall be inserted “subject to paragraph (5),”; and

(b) after paragraph (4) there shall be added the following paragraph –

“(5) If the application of paragraph (3) would decrease the weekly amount of child support maintenance (or the aggregate of all such amounts) payable by the non-resident parent to the person with care (or all of them) to an amount which is less than a figure equivalent to the flat rate of child support maintenance payable under paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 1 to the Order, the non-resident parent shall instead be liable to pay child support maintenance at a rate equivalent to that flat rate apportioned (if appropriate) as provided in paragraph 6 of that Schedule.”.

(1)

S.R. 2001 No. 18; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 2002 No. 323

(2)

1950 c. 29 (N.I.); section 1(1) and (1A) were substituted by Article 3 of the Employment and Training (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 (S.I. 1988/1087 (N.I. 10)) and section 1(2) and (3) were substituted by Article 5 of the Industrial Training (Northern Ireland) Order 1990 (S.I. 1990/1200 (N.I. 8))

(3)

1917 c. 51

(4)

1939 c. 82

(5)

1939 c. 83

(6)

1947 c. 19

(7)

1980 c. 9; Part VII was amended by the Armed Forces Act 1981 (c. 55), the Army Act 1992 (c. 39), the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1993 (c. 50) and the Reserve Forces Act 1996 (c. 14)

(8)

Regulation 4(1) was amended by paragraph 1(t) of the Schedule to S.R. 2002 No. 323