The Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009

Prospective

PART 1 N.I. General

Citation and commencement N.I.

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009 and shall come into operation on 25th January 2010.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 1 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Interpretation N.I.

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Order” means the Child Support (Northern Ireland) Order 1991;

“old scheme case” means a case in respect of which the provisions of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act (Northern Ireland) 2000(1) have not been brought into operation in accordance with Article 3 of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security (2000 Act) (Commencement No. 9) Order (Northern Ireland) 2003(2);

“the AIAMA Regulations” means the Child Support (Arrears, Interest and Adjustment of Maintenance Assessments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(3);

“the Decisions and Appeals Regulations” means the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999(4);

“non-resident parent” includes a person treated as a non-resident parent by virtue of regulations made under Article 39 of the Order(5);

“relevant person” means—

(a)

a person with care; or

(b)

a non-resident parent,

in respect of whom a maintenance calculation is or has been in force.

(2) In the application of these Regulations to an old scheme case, any reference to expressions in the Order (including “non-resident parent” and “maintenance calculation”), or to regulations made under the Order, are to be read with the necessary modifications.

Commencement Information

I2 Reg. 2 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Arrears notices N.I.

3.—(1) This regulation applies to a case where—

(a) the Department is arranging for the collection of child support maintenance under Article 29 of the Order(6); and

(b) the non-resident parent has failed to make one or more payments of child support maintenance due.

(2) Where the Department is considering taking action with regard to a case falling within paragraph (1), it must serve a notice on the non-resident parent.

(3) The notice must—

(a) itemize the payments of child support maintenance due and not paid;

(b) set out in general terms the provisions as to arrears contained in this regulation and regulation 8 of the AIAMA Regulations(7); and

(c) request the non-resident parent make payment of all outstanding arrears.

(4) Where a notice has been served under paragraph (2), no duty to serve a further notice under that paragraph arises in relation to further arrears unless those further arrears have arisen after an intervening continuous period of not less than 12 weeks during the course of which all payments of child support maintenance due from the non-resident parent have been paid on time in accordance with regulations made under Article 29 of the Order.

Commencement Information

I3 Reg. 3 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Attribution of payments N.I.

4.  Where a maintenance calculation is or has been in force and there are arrears of child support maintenance, the Department may attribute any payment of child support maintenance made by a non-resident parent to child support maintenance due as it thinks fit.

Commencement Information

I4 Reg. 4 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

PART 2 N.I. Set Off

Set off of liabilities to pay child support maintenance N.I.

5.—(1) The circumstance prescribed for the purposes of Article 38C(1)(a) of the Order, in which the Department may set off liabilities to pay child support maintenance, are set out in paragraph (2).

(2) The Department may set off the liability to pay child support maintenance of one person (“A”) against the liability to pay child support maintenance of another person (“B”) where—

(a) A is liable to pay child support maintenance under a maintenance calculation, whether that calculation is current or no longer in force, in relation to which B is the person with care; and

(b) B is liable to pay child support maintenance under a maintenance calculation, whether that calculation is current or no longer in force, in relation to which A is the person with care.

(3) There shall be no set off in relation to any amount which if paid could be retained under Article 38 of the Order(8).

Commencement Information

I5 Reg. 5 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Set off of payments against child support maintenance liability N.I.

6.—(1) The circumstances prescribed for the purposes of Article 38C(1)(b) of the Order, in which the Department may set off a payment against a person’s liability to pay child support maintenance, are set out in paragraph (2).

(2) The Department may set off a payment against a non-resident parent’s liability to pay child support maintenance where—

(a) the payment falls within paragraph (3); and

(b) the person with care agreed to the making of the payment.

(3) A payment is of a prescribed description for the purposes of Article 38C(1)(b) of the Order if it was made by the non-resident parent in respect of—

(a) a mortgage or loan taken out on the security of the property which is the qualifying child’s home where that mortgage or loan was taken out to facilitate the purchase of, or to pay for essential repairs or improvements to, that property;

(b) rent on the property which is the qualifying child’s home;

(c) mains-supplied gas, water or electricity charges at the qualifying child’s home;

(d) rates payable by the person with care in relation to the qualifying child’s home;

(e) essential repairs to the heating system in the qualifying child’s home; or

(f) repairs which are essential to maintain the fabric of the qualifying child’s home.

Commencement Information

I6 Reg. 6 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Application of set off N.I.

7.—(1) In setting off a person’s liability for child support maintenance under this Part, the Department may apply the amount to be set off to reduce any arrears of child support maintenance due under any current maintenance calculation, or any previous maintenance calculation made in respect of the same relevant persons.

(2) Where there are no arrears of child support maintenance due, or an amount remains to be set off after the application of paragraph (1), the Department may adjust the amount payable in relation to the current maintenance calculation by such amount as it considers appropriate in all the circumstances of the case, having regard in particular to—

(a) the circumstances of the relevant persons; and

(b) the amount to be set off and the period over which it would be reasonable to adjust the amount payable to set off that amount.

(3) An adjustment of the amount payable in relation to the current maintenance calculation under paragraph (2) may reduce the amount payable to nil.

Commencement Information

I7 Reg. 7 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

PART 3 N.I. Overpayments and Voluntary Payments

Application of overpayments N.I.

8.—(1) Where for any reason, including the retrospective effect of a maintenance calculation, there has been an overpayment of child support maintenance, the Department may apply the amount overpaid to reduce any arrears of child support maintenance due under any previous maintenance calculation in respect of the same relevant persons.

(2) Where there is no previous maintenance calculation, or an amount of the overpayment remains after the application of paragraph (1), the Department may adjust the amount payable in relation to the current maintenance calculation by such amount as it considers appropriate in all the circumstances of the case, having regard in particular to—

(a) the circumstances of the relevant persons; and

(b) the amount of the overpayment and the period over which it would be reasonable to adjust the amount payable for the overpayment to be rectified.

(3) An adjustment of the amount payable in relation to the current maintenance calculation under paragraph (2) may reduce the amount payable to nil.

Commencement Information

I8 Reg. 8 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Application of voluntary payments N.I.

9.—(1) Where there has been a voluntary payment, the Department may apply the amount of the voluntary payment to reduce any arrears of child support maintenance due under any previous maintenance calculation in respect of the same relevant persons.

(2) Where there is no previous maintenance calculation, or an amount of the voluntary payment remains after the application of paragraph (1), the Department may adjust the amount payable in relation to the current maintenance calculation by such amount as it considers appropriate in all the circumstances of the case, having regard in particular to—

(a) the circumstances of the relevant persons; and

(b) the amount of the voluntary payment and the period over which it would be reasonable to adjust the amount payable for the voluntary payment to be taken into account.

(3) An adjustment of the amount payable in relation to the current maintenance calculation under paragraph (2) may reduce the amount payable to nil.

Commencement Information

I9 Reg. 9 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

PART 4 N.I. Recovery from Estates

Application and interpretation N.I.

10.—(1) This Part applies in relation to the estate of a person who dies on or after the day on which these Regulations come into operation.

(2) In this Part, “child support maintenance” means child support maintenance for the collection of which the Department is authorised to make arrangements.

Commencement Information

I10 Reg. 10 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Recovery of arrears from a deceased person’s estate N.I.

11.  Arrears of child support maintenance for which a deceased person was liable immediately before death are a debt payable by the deceased’s executor or administrator out of the deceased’s estate to the Department.

Commencement Information

I11 Reg. 11 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Appeals and other proceedings N.I.

12.—(1) The deceased’s executor or administrator has the same rights, subject to the same procedures and time limits, as the deceased person had immediately before death to institute, continue or withdraw any proceedings under the Order, whether by appeal or otherwise.

(2) Regulation 34 of the Decisions and Appeals Regulations shall apply to a case where the non-resident parent is the deceased party to the proceedings as if for paragraphs (1) and (2) there were substituted the following paragraph—

“(1) In any proceedings, on the death of a non-resident parent, the Department must appoint the deceased’s executor or administrator to proceed with the appeal in place of the deceased, unless there is no such person in which circumstances it may appoint such person as it thinks fit to proceed with the appeal.”.

Commencement Information

I12 Reg. 12 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Disclosure of information N.I.

13.—(1) The Department may disclose information held for the purposes of the Order to the deceased’s executor or administrator where, in the opinion of the Department, such information is essential to enable the executor or administrator to administer the deceased’s estate, including, where necessary, to institute, continue or withdraw proceedings under the Order.

(2) Any application for information under this regulation shall be made to the Department in writing setting out the reasons for the application.

(3) Except where a person gives written permission to the Department that the information mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) in relation to that person may be disclosed to other persons, any information disclosed under paragraph (1) must not contain—

(a) the address of any person, except that of the recipient of the information in question and the office of the officer concerned who is exercising functions of the Department under the Order, or any other information the use of which could reasonably be expected to lead to any such person being located;

(b) any other information the use of which could reasonably be expected to lead to any person, other than a party to the maintenance calculation, being identified.

Commencement Information

I13 Reg. 13 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

PART 5 N.I. Revocations and Savings

Revocations N.I.

14.  The statutory provisions specified in the Schedule are revoked to the extent specified there.

Commencement Information

I14 Reg. 14 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Savings N.I.

15.—(1) Where before these Regulations come into operation, an adjustment has been made under regulation 10(1)(9) of the AIAMA Regulations in an old scheme case, regulations 10(2) and (3) and 11 to 17 of those Regulations(10) continue to apply to that case for the purposes of—

(a) making and determining any appeal against the adjustment;

(b) making and determining any application for a revision of the adjustment;

(c) determining any application for a supersession made before these regulations come into operation.

(2) Where before these Regulations come into operation, an adjustment has been made under regulation 10(1) or (3A)(11) of the AIAMA Regulations in a case other than an old scheme case, regulation 30A(12) of the Decisions and Appeals Regulations continues to apply to that case for the purposes of making and determining any appeal against the adjustment.

Commencement Information

I15 Reg. 15 in operation at 25.1.2010, see reg. 1

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Social Development on 15th December 2009

(L.S.)

Anne McCleary

A senior officer of the Department for Social Development