The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2013

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations contain provisions amending various sets of Child Support Regulations.

Some of the provisions in these Regulations make amendments to child support provisions following changes to legislation which allow a person to make an election for payments of child benefit not to be made in cases where the person or their partner has income of over £50,000 per year. Regulations 2(2)(b) and 2(3), 3, 5, 6(3), 7(2)(b), (3) and (4), and 8(4) and (5) make amendments to child support provisions to ensure that the effect is that a person who has made an election under section 13A(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5) for payments of child benefit not to be made is treated as receiving child benefit (or child benefit is treated as being payable) for the purposes of calculating child maintenance. Regulation 6(2) amends the prescription of relevant other child in the Child Support (Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2001/155), which apply to the 2003 scheme of child support, so that it includes a child in respect of whom an election not to receive child benefit has been made. Regulation 8(7) and (8) makes the same amendment to the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2677) (“the 2012 Regulations”) for the purposes of the 2012 scheme.

Regulation 2(2)(a) amends the heading of paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Child Support (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/1813) to more accurately reflect the contents of that paragraph. Regulation 7(2)(a) makes the same amendment to the Child Support (Maintenance Calculation Procedure) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2001/157).

Regulation 4 makes amendments to the Child Support (Collection and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 (S.I. 1992/1989), which are consequential on a change made in the Child Support (Meaning of Child and New Calculation Rules) (Consequential and Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2012 (S.I.2012/2785) (“the Consequential Regulations”), for the purposes of the 2012 scheme of child support. Regulation 4(2) inserts a definition of “gross weekly income” and “current income”. Regulation 4(3) omits a paragraph referring to net weekly income. Regulation 4(4) amends regulation 25C so that the maximum deduction rate is 40% of the person’s gross weekly income as calculated for the purposes of the current maintenance calculation or, where it is an arrears only case, the most recent previous calculation. Regulation 4(5) amends regulation 25G so that in an arrears only case the liable person can request a review of the deduction order where there has been a change to current gross income.

Regulation 8(2) amends regulation 34 of the 2012 Regulations so that the non-resident parent’s gross weekly income can be (a) based on historic income in cases where the amount of historic income is nil, and (b) based on current income where the Secretary of State is unable to request or obtain information from HMRC. Regulation 8(3) makes changes consequential on this.

Regulation 8(6) amends regulation 75 of the 2012 Regulations so that a variation previously agreed to which has ceased to have effect for specified reasons can be taken into account again without the need for an application or needing to consider whether there has been a material change of circumstances.

Regulation 9 makes a technical amendment to a definition in the Consequential Regulations.

Regulation 10 revokes regulation 9 of the Consequential Regulations.