The Social Security (1998 Order) (Commencement No. 6 and Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999

Amendment of the Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations

14.—(1) The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1994(1) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (4).

(2) In regulation 6 (interpretation)—

(a) in paragraph (1) in the definition of “transitional period” in paragraph (a) for “is reviewed” there shall be substituted “was reviewed or, as the case may be, a decision is made superseding an earlier decision,”; and

(b) in paragraph (2) for “the child support officer” there shall be substituted “the Department”.

(3) In regulation 9 (procedure)—

(a) in paragraph (1) at the end there shall be added “before 1st June 1999 or an application on or after that date for a decision under Article 19 of the Order superseding an earlier decision”; and

(b) for paragraph (3) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(3) Regulation 10(2) of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations shall not apply in respect of a decision made solely for the purpose of applying Part III but instead the Department shall notify the relevant persons (as defined in regulation 1(2) of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations) of the detail of how the provisions of Part III have been applied in that case.”.

(4) For regulations 10 and 11 there shall be substituted the following regulations—

“Revision and supersession

10.— (1) The provisions of the following paragraphs shall apply where the Department proposes to make a decision under Article 18 or 19 of the Order with respect to a maintenance assessment under which the amount payable was the transitional amount.

(2) Where a fresh maintenance assessment would be made by virtue of a decision under Article 18 or 19 of the Order and the amount payable under that assessment (disregarding the provisions of Part III) (in this regulation called “the new formula amount”) would be—

(a) more than the formula amount, the amount of child support maintenance payable shall be the transitional amount plus the difference between the formula amount and the new formula amount;

(b) less than the formula amount but more than the transitional amount, the amount of the child support maintenance payable shall be the transitional amount; or

(c) less than the transitional amount, the amount of child support maintenance payable shall be the new formula amount.

(3) Regulations 21 and 22 of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations shall apply as if the new formula amount were the amount which would be fixed in accordance with a decision superseding an earlier decision.

(4) Where the effective date of a fresh maintenance assessment made by virtue of a revision under Article 18 of the Order or of a decision under Article 19 of the Order superseding an earlier decision would, apart from this regulation, be before 18th April 1995—

(a) the fresh maintenance assessment; and

(b) the decision under Article 18 or, as the case may be, Article 19,

shall take effect from 18th April 1995.

Decisions consequent on the amendments made by Part II

11.— (1) A fresh maintenance assessment shall not be made by virtue of a decision under Article 19 of the Order superseding an earlier decision in consequence only of the amendments made by Part II where the amount of child support maintenance fixed by the assessment currently in force and the amount that would be fixed if a fresh assessment were to be made under that Article is less than £1£00 per week.

(2) Except in relation to the amendment made by regulation 5(6), where a fresh maintenance assessment is made by virtue of a decision under Article 19 of the Order superseding an earlier decision in consequence only of the amendments made by Part II, the date from which—

(a) the fresh maintenance assessment; and

(b) the decision under Article 18 or, as the case may be, Article 19,

shall take effect shall be 7th February 1994.”.

(1)

S.R. 1994 No. 37; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 1995 Nos. 162 and 475