The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1998

Amendment of regulation 18 of the Departure Direction Regulations

13.—(1) Regulation 18 of the Departure Direction Regulations (costs incurred in supporting certain children) shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.

(2) In paragraph (1), after the words “part of his family” there shall be inserted the words “and who was, at the date on which any departure direction given in response to an application under this regulation would take effect, living in the same household as that parent”.

(3) In paragraph (2)—

(a) for sub-paragraph (a), there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(a) the child became a relevant child prior to 5th April 1993 and has remained a relevant child for the whole of the period from that date to the date on which any departure direction given in response to an application under this regulation would take effect;”;

(b) for sub-paragraph (b), there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(b) subject to paragraph (7)—

(i) the liability of the absent parent of a relevant child to pay maintenance to or for the benefit of that child under a maintenance order, a written maintenance agreement or a maintenance assessment; or

(ii) any deduction from benefit under section 43 of the Act in place of payment of child support maintenance to or for the benefit of that child,

is less than the amount specified in paragraph (4), or there is no such liability or deduction; and”.

(4) In paragraph (3)—

(a) at the beginning, there shall be inserted the words “Subject to paragraph (7A),”;

(b) after the words “paragraph (2)(b)” there shall be inserted the words “(i) or any deduction from benefit mentioned in paragraph (2)(b)(ii)”;

(c) after the words “no such liability” there shall be inserted the words “or deduction”.

(5) In paragraph (4)—

(a) at the beginning there shall be inserted the words “Subject to paragraphs (4A) and (4B),”;

(b) in sub-paragraph (b), after the words “and (c)” there shall be inserted the word “of” and at the end there shall be inserted the word “and”;

(c) for sub-paragraph (c), there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(c) except where the family includes other children of the parent, an amount equal to the income support family premium—

(i) specified in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph 3 of that Schedule where, if the applicant were a claimant, the rate of income support family premium specified in that sub-paragraph would be applicable to him; or

(ii) specified in paragraph 3(b) in all other cases.”;

(d) sub-paragraph (d) shall be omitted.

(6) After paragraph (4), there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

“(4A) Where day to day care of the relevant child is shared between the current partner of the person making an application under this regulation and the other parent of that child, the amounts referred to in paragraph (4) shall be reduced by the proportion of those amounts which is the same as the proportion of the week in respect of which the child is not living in the same household as the applicant.

(4B) Where an application under paragraph (1) is made in respect of more than one relevant child and the family does not include any other children of the parent, the amount applicable under sub-paragraph (c) of paragraph (4) in respect of each relevant child shall be calculated by dividing the amount referred to in that sub-paragraph by the number of relevant children in respect of whom that application is made.”.

(7) In paragraph (6), at the end of sub-paragraph (d), there shall be added the words “or the aggregate of those amounts where paragraph (7A) applies to that partner.”.

(8) In paragraph (7), after the words “paragraph (2)(b)” there shall be inserted “(i)”.

(9) After paragraph (7) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(7A) Where an application is made in respect of relevant children of different parents, a separate calculation shall be made in accordance with paragraphs (3) and (4) in respect of each relevant child or group of relevant children who have the same parents and the amount constituting special expenses referred to in paragraph (1) shall be the aggregate of the amounts calculated in accordance with paragraph (3) in respect of each such relevant child or group of relevant children.”.

(10) For sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (8), there shall be substituted the following sub-paragraph—

“(a) a child who is not the child of a particular person is a part of that person’s family where—

(i) that child is the child of a current partner of that person; or

(ii) that child is the child of a former partner of that person and lives in the same household as the applicant for every night of each week;”.