(1)Except in the case of a child to whom section 25 or 26 below applies, the appropriate amount to be deducted from the claimant's total income under subsection (1) of section 10 of the Taxes Act (children) for the year 1977-78 shall, instead of being determined in accordance with subsection (3) of that section, be determined in accordance with subsections (2) and (3) below; and in those subsections " first child " means a child shown by the claimant to be the only or eldest child in respect of whom he is entitled under that section to a deduction of an amount determined in accordance with those subsections.
(2)The appropriate amount for the child shall vary according to the age of the child at the commencement of the year of assessment and according to whether or not he is a first child and, subject to subsection (5) of the said section 10—
(a)for a child shown by the claimant to have been over the age of sixteen at the commencement of that year, shall be £261 in the case of a first child and £235 in the case of any other child:
(b)for a child not so shown but shown by the claimant to have been then over the age of eleven, shall be £231 in the case of a first child and £205 in the case of any other child ;
(c)for a child not falling within the foregoing paragraphs, shall be £196 in the case of a first child and £170 in the case of any other child.
(3)Where the appropriate amount for a child is required to be apportioned under section 11 of the Taxes Act between two or more individuals and the child is the first child in relation to any but not each of them, that amount shall be determined as if he were the first child in relation to each of them.