13.—(1) Regulation 35 of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations (periods for compliance with obligations imposed by section 6 of the Act) shall be amended in accordance with the following provisions of this regulation.
(2) For paragraph (2), there shall be substituted the following paragraph—
“(2) The Secretary of State shall not refer a case to a child support officer prior to the expiry of a period of—
(a)2 weeks from the date he serves notice under paragraph (1) on the parent in question; or
(b)6 weeks from that date, where, before the expiry of 2 weeks from service of that notice, he has received from the parent in question in writing her reasons why she believes that if she were to be required to comply with an obligation imposed by section 6 of the Act, there would be a risk, as a result of that compliance, of her or any child or children living with her suffering harm or undue distress,
and the notice shall contain a statement setting out the provisions of sub-paragraphs (a) and (b).”
(3) In paragraph (3), for the words “the Secretary of State refers a case to a child support officer and the" there shall be substituted the word “a".