23.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this regulation and of regulation 21 (direct credit transfer), child benefit shall be payable as follows:–
(a)in a case where a person entitled to child benefit elects to receive payment weekly in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 8, child benefit shall be payable weekly from the first convenient date after the election has been made;
(b)in any other case child benefit shall be payable in the last week of each successive period of four weeks of the period of entitlement.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3) and regulation 21, child benefit payable weekly or four-weekly shall be payable on Mondays or Tuesdays (as the Secretary of State may in any case determine) by serial orders.
(3) In such cases as the Secretary of State may determine, child benefit shall be payable otherwise than–
(a)by means of serial orders, or
(b)on Mondays or Tuesdays, or
(c)at weekly or four-weekly intervals,
and where child benefit is paid at four-weekly intervals in accordance with paragraph (1)(b) the Secretary of State shall arrange for it to be paid weekly if satisfied that payment at intervals of four weeks is causing hardship.
(4) The Secretary of State shall take steps to notify persons to whom child benefit is payable of the arrangements he has made for payment so far as those arrangements affect such persons.