The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 1998

Amendment of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations

2.—(1) The Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations shall be amended in accordance with the following paragraphs of this regulation.

(2) Parts III and IV of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations shall be amended as follows:—

(a) in regulation 8B—

(i) in paragraph (1) there shall be inserted after “child support officer”, the words “in respect of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996”, and

(ii) in paragraph (4) for “section 16 or” there shall be substituted—

• “section 16 of the Act of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996 or a review under section”,

(b) in regulation 9 after “16” in sub-paragraph (iii) of paragraph (1) and in paragraphs (15) and (16) there shall be inserted—

“of the Act of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996 or a review under section”,

(c) in paragraph (5) of regulation 9A for “sections 16 and” there shall be substituted “section”,

(d) in regulation 10—

(i) in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (1) after “16” there shall be inserted “of the Act of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996 or a review under section”,

(ii) the following shall be inserted after paragraph (1)—

“(1A) Where the Secretary of State makes a fresh maintenance assessment on a revision under section 16 of the Act he shall immediately notify the relevant persons, so far as that is reasonably practicable, of the amount of the child support maintenance under that assessment.

(1B) Where a fresh Category A, Category C or Category D interim maintenance assessment is made, on a revision under section 16 of the Act, a notification under paragraph (1A) shall set out, in relation to that interim maintenance assessment, the maintenance requirement and the effective date and shall include information as to sections 16 to 19(1) of the Act.

(1C) Where a fresh maintenance assessment is made on a revision under section 16 of the Act, a notification under paragraph (1A) shall include information as to sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Act.”,

(iii) in paragraph (2A) for “section 16 or” there shall be substituted “section 16 of the Act of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996 or a review under section”,

(iv) in sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (4) for the words “sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Act” there shall be substituted “of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996, sections 17 and 18 of the Act”,

(v) in sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (4) for “sections 16 and” there shall be substituted “section”,

(vi) in sub-paragraphs (d) and (e) of paragraph (4) “16” shall be deleted,

(vii) in paragraph (5) for the words “section 16 or 19(1) of the Act” there shall be substituted “section 16 of the Act of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996 or under section 19(1) of the Act”, and for “sections 16 and” there shall be substituted “section”, and

(viii) in paragraph (6) for “sections 16” there shall be substituted “section”,

(e) after paragraph (2) of regulation 11 there shall be inserted—

“(2A) Where the Secretary of State refuses an application for a revision of a decision under section 16 of the Act, he shall immediately notify the applicant, so far as that is reasonably practicable, and shall give the reasons for his refusal in writing.”, and

(f) after paragraph (7) of regulation 17 there shall be inserted—

“(8) Nothing in this Part requires a review of a maintenance assessment which has not been in force for 104 weeks before 7th December 1998.”.

(3) After Part V (periodical reviews) of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations there shall be inserted the following—

“PART VA REVISION OF DECISIONS

Circumstances in which decisions may be revised

18A.— (1) An application may be made for a revision of, or the Secretary of State may decide on his own initiative to revise, a decision described in paragraph (2) and referred to in this part of these Regulations as a “relevant decision”.

(2) A decision for the purposes of paragraph (1) is a maintenance assessment made under section 11 (maintenance assessments) or 12 (interim maintenance assessments) of the Act in respect of which—

(a) an application for a review has been made under section 18 (reviews of decisions of child support officers) of the Act, and

(b) an appeal to a child support appeal tribunal has been made under section 20 (appeals) of the Act either on a review under section 18 of the Act or in respect of a refusal of such a review.

Procedure

18B.— (1) Where notice of an appeal referred to in regulation 18A(2)(b) has been received by the Secretary of State in accordance with regulations made under section 21 (child support appeal tribunals) of the Act he shall acknowledge receipt in writing and notify the other relevant persons in writing of the receipt and such acknowledgement or notification shall include information as to the ability for the decision to be revised under section 16 of the Act, including any time limits for such a revision.

(2) An application under section 16(1)(b) of the Act for revision of a relevant decision may be made by any party to the appeal referred to in regulation 18A(2)(b) and shall be made in writing to the Secretary of State within the period of 28 days beginning with the date of receipt of the acknowledgement or notification, as the case may be, referred to in paragraph (1).

(3) Where an application is received by the Secretary of State under paragraph (2), or where he is on his own initiative considering whether to revise a relevant decision, he shall consider whether in his opinion the relevant decision was made in ignorance of a fact or based on a mistake as to a fact or was wrong in law.

(4) The Secretary of State shall give 14 days' notice of his intention to revise the decision to the relevant persons and invite representations, either in person or in writing, from the relevant persons on any matter relating to the relevant decision within 14 days of the date on which the notice of the intention to revise was given.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), where the Secretary of State—

(a) does not within 14 days of the date on which notice was given receive a request from the relevant person to make representations in person,

(b) receives a request by the date referred to in paragraph (a) and arranges for an appointment but that appointment is not kept, or

(c) does not receive written representations from a relevant person within 14 days of the date referred to in paragraph (a),

he may revise the decision in the absence of such representations from that person.

(6) Where the Secretary of State is satisfied that there was good reason for failure to keep an appointment, he shall provide for a further opportunity for the making of representations by the relevant person concerned before he revises the relevant decision.

Effective date

18C.   Where on a revision of a relevant decision in the opinion of the Secretary of State the effective date of that decision was based on ignorance of a fact or on a mistake as to a fact or was wrong in law, the effective date of that revised decision shall be a date determined by the Secretary of State as being the date which should have been the effective date of the relevant decision.

Lapse of appeals

18D.— (1) In the circumstances described in paragraph (2) an appeal referred to in regulation 18A(2)(b) shall not lapse if the relevant decision is revised under section 16 of the Act before the appeal is determined.

(2) The circumstances for the purposes of paragraph (1) are where—

(a) in the case of an appeal brought by an absent parent, either the maintenance assessment under the revision is more than the maintenance assessment under the relevant decision or the effective date of the revision is prior to the effective date of the relevant decision; or

(b) in the case of an appeal brought by a person with care, either the maintenance assessment under the revision is less than the maintenance assessment under the relevant decision or the effective date of the revision is later than the effective date of the relevant decision.”.

(4) Part VIII of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations shall be amended as follows—

(a) in paragraphs (1) and (2) of regulation 31 after “a review under section 16 of the Act” there shall be inserted “of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996”,

(b) in paragraph (1) of regulation 31C after “a review” there shall be inserted “by a child support officer of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996, or a revision by the Secretary of State after 6th December 1998,” and

(c) in paragraph (3) of regulation 33 after “a review under section 16” there shall be inserted “of the Act by a child support officer of a maintenance assessment the effective date of which is on or before 8th December 1996, or a revision by the Secretary of State under that section after 6th December 1998, or a review under section”.