The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2005 No. 125

FAMILY LAW

CHILD SUPPORT

The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Made

16th March 2005

Coming into operation in accordance with regulation 1

The Department for Social Development, in exercise of the powers conferred by Articles 12(1), 19(3) and (5), 28B(2)(c), 39(1), 47 and 48(4) of, and paragraphs 4(1)(b), 5, 6(2), (4) and (6), 7(3), 9(d) and 10(1) of Schedule 1 and paragraphs 2 and 4(1) of Schedule 4B to, the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(1) and now vested in it(2), and section 28 of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000(3) and of all other powers enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 and, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), shall come into operation on 17th March 2005.

(2) Regulation 4 shall come into operation, for the purposes of any type of case which is not one in relation to which 3rd March 2003 is the day appointed for the coming into operation of section 1(2)(a) of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000(4), on the day on which that provision comes into operation in relation to that type of case.

(3) Regulation 8(2), (4), (5) and (6) shall come into operation on 6th April 2005.

Amendment of the Child Support (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) Regulations

2.—(1) The Child Support (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(5) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (5).

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

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

““family” has the same meaning as in the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations(6);”; and

(b)after the definition of “the parent concerned” there shall be inserted the following definition –

““partner” has the same meaning as in the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations;”.

(3) In regulation 8(7) (categories of interim maintenance assessment) paragraph (4) shall be omitted.

(4) In regulation 19(3)(8) (supersession of decisions) after “where paragraph (8) applies,” there shall be inserted “but subject to regulation 22(22),”.

(5) In regulation 22(9) (date from which a superseding decision takes effect) after paragraph (20) there shall be added the following paragraphs –

“(21) Where a superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 19(2)(a) or (3) applies, and the relevant circumstance is that a person has ceased to be a person with care in relation to a qualifying child in respect of whom the maintenance assessment was made, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which that person ceased to be that person with care in relation to that qualifying child.

(22) Regulation 20 shall not apply where a superseding decision is made under regulation 19(3) in the circumstances set out in paragraph (19) or (21).”.

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

3.—(1) The Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(10) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (4).

(2) In Schedule 1 (calculation of N and M) –

(a)in paragraph 2A(3)(a)(11) for “equivalent to any personal allowance” there shall be substituted “calculated as if it were equivalent to any personal allowance which would be”; and

(b)in paragraph 3(5)(a)(12) for “equivalent to any personal allowance” there shall be substituted “calculated as if it were equivalent to any personal allowance which would be”.

(3) In Schedule 2 (amounts to be disregarded when calculating or estimating N and M) –

(a)after paragraph 18 there shall be inserted the following paragraph –

“18A.  Subject to paragraph 20(13), and to the extent that it does not exceed £10·00, a payment made in respect of a parent under a scheme mentioned in section 1(2) of the Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Act 2004(14) (compensation schemes for armed and reserve forces).”;

(b)in paragraph 20 for “18 and 19(1)”, wherever it occurs, there shall be substituted “18 to 19(1)”; and

(c)in paragraph 25(15) for the words from “a scheme approved” to “allowances to adopters)” there shall be substituted “any regulations made under Article 59A or pursuant to Article 59A(6) of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987(16) (permitted allowances)”.

(4) In Schedule 4(17) (cases where child support maintenance is not to be payable) in paragraph (b) –

(a)at the end of sub-paragraph (ix) the word “and” shall be omitted; and

(b)after sub-paragraph (ix) there shall be added the following sub-paragraph –

“(x)the Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Act 2004; and”.

Amendment of the Child Support (Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction) Regulations

4.  After regulation 8 of the Child Support (Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(18) (maintenance calculations and maintenance orders made in error) there shall be inserted the following regulation –

“Maintenance calculations and maintenance orders – payments

8A.  Where –

(a)a maintenance calculation has been made with respect to a qualifying child in response to an application made under Article 7 of the Order(19);

(b)at the time that maintenance calculation was made a maintenance order was in force with respect to that child;

(c)the maintenance order has ceased to have effect by virtue of the provisions of regulation 3(20); and

(d)the non-resident parent had made payments of maintenance due under that order after the date on which the maintenance calculation took effect in accordance with regulation 25 of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations(21),

the payments made under the maintenance order shall be treated as payments of child support maintenance.”.

Amendment of the Child Support (Maintenance Calculation Procedure) Regulations

5.  Regulation 10 of the Child Support (Maintenance Calculation Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001(22) (circumstances in which a reduced benefit decision shall not be given) shall be renumbered as paragraph (1) of that regulation and after that paragraph there shall be added the following paragraph –

“(2) In paragraph (1)(c) “family” has the same meaning as in the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations.”.

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(23) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (5).

(2) In regulation 4(1)(24) (flat rate) –

(a)after sub-paragraphs (d) and (e) the word “and” shall be omitted; and

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

  • “; and

    (g)

    a payment under a scheme mentioned in section 1(2) of the Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Act 2004 (compensation schemes for armed and reserve forces).”.

(3) After regulation 5(1)(gg)(25) (nil rate) there shall be inserted “or”.

(4) In regulation 11(1) (non-resident parent liable to pay maintenance under a maintenance order) for the words after “pay maintenance” there shall be substituted –

  • “for that child –

    (i)

    under a maintenance order;

    (ii)

    in accordance with the terms of an order made by a court outside Northern Ireland, or

    (iii)

    under the legislation of a jurisdiction outside the United Kingdom,

    that case shall be treated as a special case for the purpose of the Order.”.

(5) In the Schedule (net weekly income) in paragraph 7(4)(a) for “equivalent to any personal allowance” there shall be substituted “calculated as if it were equivalent to any personal allowance which would be”.

Amendment of the Child Support (Transitional Provisions) Regulations

7.  In regulation 27 of the Child Support (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001(26) (subsequent decision with effect in transitional period – amount payable) –

(a)after paragraph (7)(27) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs –

“(7A) This paragraph applies where –

(a)paragraph (1) applies and at the date of the subsequent decision there is more than one person with care in relation to the same non-resident parent; and

(b)as a result of the subsequent decision there is one person with care in relation to that non-resident parent.

(7B) Where paragraph (7A) applies, the amount payable to a person with care in respect of whom the amount payable is calculated by reference to a phasing amount shall be determined by applying paragraphs (1) to (5) as if references to –

(a)the new amount and the transitional amount were to the apportioned part of the amount in question which had been payable immediately prior to the subsequent decision to the person with care in respect of whom the subsequent decision is made; and

(b)the subsequent decision amount were to the full amount payable under the subsequent decision.”; and

(b)in paragraph (8)(28), for “paragraph (7)” there shall be substituted “paragraphs (7) and (7B)”.

Amendment of the Child Support (Variations) Regulations

8.—(1) The Child Support (Variations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001(29) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (6).

(2) In regulation 6(2)(b)(iii) (rejection of an application following preliminary consideration) after “regulation 19(1)” there shall be inserted “or (1A)”.

(3) In regulation 11 (special expenses – illness or disability of relevant other child) for paragraph (3) there shall be substituted the following paragraph –

“(3) Where, at the date on which the non-resident parent makes the variation application –

(a)he or a member of his household has received, or at that date is in receipt of, or where he or the member of his household will receive any financial assistance from any source in respect of the long-term illness or disability of the relevant other child; or

(b)a disability living allowance is received by the non-resident parent or the member of his household on behalf of the relevant other child,

only the net amount of the costs incurred in respect of the items listed in paragraph (1), after the deduction of the financial assistance or the amount of the allowance, shall constitute special expenses for the purposes of paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 4B to the Order.”.

(4) In regulation 18(3)(30) (assets) for sub-paragraph (a) there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph –

“(a)where the total value of the assets referred to in that paragraph does not exceed £65,000 after deduction of –

(i)the amount owing under any mortgage or charge on those assets;

(ii)the value of any asset in respect of which income has been taken into account under regulation 19(1A);”.

(5) In regulation 19 (income not taken into account and diversion of income) –

(a)after paragraph (1) there shall be inserted the following paragraph –

“(1A) Subject to paragraph (2), a case shall constitute a case for the purposes of paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 4B to the Order where –

(a)the non-resident parent has the ability to control the amount of income he receives from a company or business, including earnings from employment or self-employment; and

(b)the Department is satisfied that the non-resident parent is receiving income from that company or business which would not otherwise fall to be taken into account under the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations.”;

(b)for paragraph (2) there shall be substituted the following paragraph –

“(2) Paragraphs (1) and (1A) shall apply where –

(a)the income referred to in paragraph (1)(b) is net weekly income of over £100;

(b)the income referred to in paragraph (1A)(b) is over £100; or

(c)the aggregate of the net weekly income referred to in sub-paragraph (a) and the income referred to in sub-paragraph (b) is over £100,

as the case may be.”;

(c)in paragraph (4)(b) –

(i)after “Regulations” there shall be inserted “or paragraph (1A)”, and

(ii)the words “in order to reduce his liability to pay child support maintenance” shall be omitted; and

(d)in paragraph (5)(31) –

(i)after sub-paragraph (a) the word “and” shall be omitted, and

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

  • “; and

    (c)

    in a case to which paragraph (1A) applies, the additional income taken into account under regulation 25 shall be the whole of the income referred to in paragraph (1A)(b).”.

(6) In regulation 20(3) (life-style inconsistent with declared income) after sub-paragraph (a) there shall be inserted the following sub-paragraph –

“(aa)income which falls to be considered under regulation 19(1A) (income not taken into account);”.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 16th March 2005.

L.S.

John O'Neill

A senior officer of the

Department for Social Development

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations provide for the amendment of various sets of Regulations relating to child support:

the Child Support (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 (“the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations”);

the Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 (“the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations”);

the Child Support (Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992 (“the Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction Regulations”);

the Child Support (Maintenance Calculation Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 (“the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations”);

the Child Support (Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 (“the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations”);

the Child Support (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 (“the Transitional Regulations”); and

the Child Support (Variations) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 (“the Variations Regulations”).

Regulation 1 makes provision for citation and commencement.

Regulation 2 amends the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations. Regulation 2(2) inserts definitions of “family” and “partner” into regulation 1(2) of those Regulations. Regulation 2(3) makes an amendment in consequence of the amendment made by regulation 2(2). Regulation 2(4) makes an amendment in consequence of the amendment made by regulation 2(5). Regulation 2(5) inserts new paragraphs (21) and (22) into regulation 22 of those Regulations. The new paragraph (21) makes provision for the effective date of a decision, where a person with care has ceased to be the person with care in relation to a qualifying child in respect of whom the maintenance assessment was made, to be the date that person so ceased to be the person with care in relation to that child and the new paragraph (22) disapplies the provisions of regulation 20 of those Regulations where a superseding decision is made and the circumstances set out in regulation 22(19) and (21) of those Regulations apply.

Regulation 3 amends the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations. Regulation 3(2) makes clarifying amendments. Regulation 3(3)(a) inserts a new paragraph 18A into Schedule 2 to those Regulations providing for a new disregarded amount where a payment is made in respect of a parent under a scheme mentioned in section 1(2) of the Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Act 2004. Regulation 3(3)(b) makes an amendment in consequence of the amendment made by regulation 3(3)(a). Regulation 3(3)(c) amends paragraph 25 of Schedule 2 to those Regulations to reflect an amendment made to the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 by the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995. Regulation 3(4) adds the Armed Forces (Pensions and Compensation) Act 2004 to the list of provisions in paragraph (b) of Schedule 4 to those Regulations under which awards made in respect of disablement are cases where child support maintenance is not to be payable.

Regulation 4 inserts a new regulation 8A into the Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction Regulations to provide for payments due and made under a maintenance order to be treated as child support maintenance where those payments have been made under that order after the date on which a maintenance calculation took effect and the maintenance order has ceased to have effect under regulation 3 of those Regulations.

Regulation 5 makes a clarifying amendment to regulation 10 of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations.

Regulation 6 amends the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations. Except for regulation 6(4), all the amendments made by this regulation either mirror those made to the Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases Regulations or make clarifying or consequential amendments. Regulation 6(4) amends regulation 11(1) of the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations to extend that special case where the circumstances are that an application for child support maintenance has been made (or treated as made) and the non-resident parent in respect of whom the application was made is liable for payments of maintenance for a different child under the terms of an order of a court outside Northern Ireland, or under the legislation of a jurisdiction outside the United Kingdom.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 27 of the Transitional Regulations to make provision for the amount payable where there is a “subsequent decision” made during the transitional period and the consequence of that decision is that there is only one person with care in relation to the non-resident parent where previously there had been more than one.

Regulation 8 amends the Variations Regulations. Regulation 8(2), (4) and (6) makes amendments in consequence of the amendment made by regulation 8(5)(a). Regulation 8(3) substitutes regulation 11(3) of those Regulations to make provision to take into account financial assistance paid in respect of the long-term illness or disability of a relevant other child, or disability living allowance paid on behalf of that child, to a member of the non-resident parent’s household where there is an application for a variation for special expenses for that relevant other child. Regulation 8(5)(a) extends the ground in regulation 19 of those Regulations for a variation for income not taken into account to a case where the non-resident parent has the ability to control the amount of income he receives from a company or business and the Department is satisfied he is receiving income which would not otherwise fall to be taken into account under the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations. Regulation 8(5)(b) makes provision for a threshold for a variation in relation to each specified case under regulation 19(1) and (1A) of the Variations Regulations, or an aggregated amount where both cases apply. Regulation 8(5)(c) makes a consequential amendment to, and omits words from, regulation 19(4) of those Regulations. Regulation 8(5)(d) makes an amendment to set out the amount of income to be taken into account where a variation is made under regulation 19(1A) of those Regulations.

A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this rule as it has no impact on the costs of business.

(1)

S.I. 1991/2628 (N.I. 23); Article 12(1) is amended by section 1(2)(a) of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 (c. 4 (N.I.)); Article 19 was substituted by Article 41 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (S.I. 1998/1506 (N.I. 10)); Article 28B was inserted by Article 3(1) of the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/2702 (N.I. 13)), is substituted by section 5(2) of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 and is modified by regulations made under Article 28G(2)(b) of the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1991, as substituted by section 7 of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000; Article 47 was amended by paragraph 31 of Schedule 6 to the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 and is amended by section 1(2) of, and paragraph 27 of Schedule 3 to, the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000; paragraph 5 of Schedule 1 was amended by paragraph 4(7) of Schedule 2 to the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/2705 (N.I. 15)); paragraph 9 of Schedule 1 was amended by paragraph 32(2) of Schedule 6 to the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998; Part I of Schedule 1 is substituted by Schedule 1 to the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000 and Schedule 4B was inserted by Schedule 2 to the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and is substituted by Part II of Schedule 2 to the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000

(2)

See Article 8(b) of S.R. 1999 No. 481

(4)

See S.R. 2003 No. 53 (C. 4), to which there is an amendment not relevant to these regulations

(5)

S.R. 1992 No. 340; relevant amending rules are S.R. 1995 No. 475, S.R. 1999 Nos. 167 and 246 (C. 20), S.R. 2000 No. 215 and S.R. 2003 No. 224; S.R. 1992 No. 340 is revoked, with savings, by regulation 29 of S.R. 2001 No. 17

(6)

The definition of “family” in S.R. 1992 No. 341 was substituted by regulation 4(2) of S.R. 1996 No. 317 and amended by regulation 3(2)(a)(iii) of S.R. 1996 No. 590

(7)

Regulation 8 was substituted by regulation 3(3) of S.R. 1995 No. 475 and amended by regulation 2(4) of S.R. 1999 No. 167 and Article 8(2) of S.R. 1999 No. 246 (C. 20)

(8)

Regulation 19 was substituted by regulation 2(12) of S.R. 1999 No. 167 and amended by regulation 4(4) of S.R. 2000 No. 215 and regulation 5(2) of S.R. 2003 No. 224

(9)

Regulation 22 was substituted by regulation 2(12) of S.R. 1999 No. 167 and amended by Article 8(4) of S.R. 1999 No. 246 (C. 20), regulation 4(5) of S.R. 2000 No. 215 and regulation 5(3) of S.R. 2003 No. 224

(11)

Paragraph 2A was inserted by regulation 4(5)(a) of S.R. 1999 No. 152

(12)

Paragraph 3(5) was substituted by regulation 3(7)(c) of S.R. 1996 No. 590 and amended by regulation 4(14)(b)(ii) of S.R. 1998 No. 8

(13)

Paragraph 20 was amended by regulation 2(3)(b) of S.R. 1996 No. 65

(15)

Paragraph 25 was amended by regulation 5(12)(b) of S.R. 1993 No. 164

(16)

S.I. 1987/2203 (N.I. 22); Article 59A was inserted by paragraph 164 of Schedule 9 to the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/755 (N.I. 2))

(17)

Schedule 4 was amended by regulation 5(14) of S.R. 1993 No. 164, regulation 9(18) of S.R. 1995 No. 162, paragraph 1(l) of the Schedule to S.R. 2002 No. 323 and regulation 3(7) of S.R. 2003 No. 84

(18)

S.R. 1992 No. 466; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 1995 No. 162, S.R. 1998 No. 8 and S.R. 2001 No. 16

(19)

Article 7 was amended by Article 12(1) of the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 and Schedule 7 to the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 and is amended by sections 1(2) and 2 of, and paragraphs 11 and 13 of Schedule 3 to, the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000

(20)

Regulation 3 was amended by regulation 7(4)(a) of S.R. 1995 No. 162, regulation 7 of S.R. 1998 No. 8 and is amended by regulation 3(3) and (5) of S.R. 2001 No. 16

(21)

Regulation 25 was amended by regulation 7(4) of S.R. 2002 No. 164. The definition of “Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations” is substituted for the definition of “Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations” in regulation 1(2) of S.R. 1992 No. 466 by regulation 3(4) of S.R. 2001 No. 16

(22)

S.R. 2001 No. 17; regulation 10 was amended by regulation 8(3) of S.R. 2003 No. 84

(23)

S.R. 2001 No. 18; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 2002 No. 323 and S.R. 2003 Nos. 191, 261 and 469

(24)

Regulation 4(1) was amended by paragraph 1(t) of the Schedule to S.R. 2002 No. 323 and regulation 6(3) of S.R. 2003 No. 469

(25)

Regulation 5(1)(gg) was inserted by regulation 33(4) of S.R. 2003 No. 191 and amended by regulation 6(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 261

(26)

S.R. 2001 No. 19; regulation 27 was amended by regulation 9(14) of S.R. 2002 No. 164, regulation 10(11) of S.R. 2003 No. 84, regulation 7(7)(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 469 and regulation 8(9) of S.R. 2004 No. 428

(27)

Paragraph (7) was added by regulation 10(11) of S.R. 2003 No. 84

(28)

Paragraph (8) was added by regulation 10(11) of S.R. 2003 No. 84

(29)

S.R. 2001 No. 20; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 2002 No. 164

(30)

Regulation 18(3) was amended by regulation 10(4)(b) of S.R. 2002 No. 164

(31)

Paragraph (5) was amended by regulation 10(5) of S.R. 2002 No. 164