The Child Support and Income Support (Amendment) Regulations 1995

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend various regulations made under the Child Support Act 1991 (“the Act”). They also amend, in one respect, the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987.

The Child Support Appeal Tribunals (Procedure) Regulations 1992 are amended to make provision for a pending appeal to continue when a party thereto dies (regulation 4).

The Child Support (Arrears, Interest and Adjustment of Maintenance Assessments) Regulations 1992 are amended to remove the liability for interest in respect of any day after 17th April 1995 (regulation 7). They are also amended to make new provisions for overpaid maintenance to be set off against arrears of maintenance and against current maintenance payable (regulation 8).

The Child Support (Collection and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 are amended to provide for a protected earnings rate in deduction from earnings orders in respect of interim maintenance assessments and in cases where arrears are due under a previous assessment but there is no current assessment in existence (regulation 17). The regulations are also amended to define the grounds upon which magistrates may discharge a deduction from earnings order as defective (regulation 14) and to make further provision for discharge of a deduction from earnings order by the Secretary of State (Regulation 19).

The Child Support Fees Regulations 1992 are amended to provide that no assessment fee or collection fee shall be payable where it would otherwise have become payable on or after 18th April 1995 and before 6th April 1997 (regulation 20).

The Child Support (Information, Evidence and Disclosure) Regulations 1992 are amended to require Crown servants to provide information in certain circumstances (regulation 22) and to make provision for information given by one party to a maintenance assessment to be disclosed to the other in certain circumstances (regulation 24).

The Child Support (Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction) Regulations 1992 are amended to provide for maintenance orders under certain enactments to be relevant for the purposes of sections 8 and 10 of the Act (regulations 26 and 27).

The Child Support (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) Regulations 1992 are amended to make provision for two further categories of interim maintenance assessment (regulation 28); for periodical reviews under section 16 of the Act to take place every 104 weeks (regulation 34); and for the effective date of a maintenance assessment in certain circumstances to be 8 weeks after a maintenance enquiry form has been sent to an absent parent (regulation 36).

The Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations 1992 are amended to require a child support officer, in certain circumstances, to make allowances for travel to work costs and for certain property transfers in the calculation of child support maintenance (regulations 44 and 45 and Schedules 1 and 2); and to provide that an absent parent must be left with not less than 70 per cent of his net income after deduction of the amount payable under a maintenance assessment (regulation 46). The requirement to apportion housing costs has been removed (regulation 50).

The Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 are amended so that if a person loses income support in respect of mortgage interest on receiving child support maintenance and that maintenance in specified cases is later reduced or terminated, the claimant’s previous entitlement to income support on account of mortgage interest will be restored provided the period since he was last entitled to benefit does not exceed 26 weeks (regulation 62).

The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 1994 are amended to provide that the transitional provisions will not apply to Category D interim maintenance assessments and that the special provision for the amount of a maintenance assessment made following a review under section 17 of the Act where the transitional provisions apply shall also apply to reviews under sections 18 or 19 of the Act (regulations 60 and 61).

Other amendments are of a minor, technical, or consequential nature.

An assessment of the cost to business of applying these Regulations has been placed in the libraries of both Houses of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from: DSS, Room 9/03, Adelphi, 1 11 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT.