Confidentiality in child support or child trust fund cases
19.—(1) Paragraph (3) applies to an appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal in proceedings under the Child Support Act 1991 M1 in the circumstances described in paragraph (2), other than an appeal against a reduced benefit decision (as defined in section 46(10)(b) of the Child Support Act 1991, as that section had effect prior to the commencement of section 15(b) of the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 M2).
(2) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (1) are that—
(a)in the proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal in respect of which the appeal has been brought, there was an obligation to keep a person's address confidential; or
(b)a person whose circumstances are relevant to the proceedings would like their address (or, in the case of the person with care of the child, the child's address) to be kept confidential and has given notice to that effect—
(i)to the Upper Tribunal in an application for permission to appeal or notice of appeal;
(ii)to the Upper Tribunal within 1 month after an enquiry by the Upper Tribunal; or
(iii)to the Secretary of State, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission or the Upper Tribunal when notifying a change of address after proceedings have been started.
(3) Where this paragraph applies, the Secretary of State, the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission and the Upper Tribunal must take appropriate steps to secure the confidentiality of the address, and of any information which could reasonably be expected to enable a person to identify the address, to the extent that the address or that information is not already known to each other party.
(4) Paragraph (6) applies to an appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal in proceedings under the Child Trust Funds Act 2004 M3 in the circumstances described in paragraph (5).
(5) The circumstances referred to in paragraph (4) are that—
(a)in the proceedings in the First-tier Tribunal in respect of which the appeal has been brought, there was an obligation to keep a person's address confidential; or
(b)a person whose circumstances are relevant to the proceedings would like their address (or, in the case of the person with care of the eligible child, the child's address) to be kept confidential and has given notice to that effect—
(i)to the Upper Tribunal in an application for permission to appeal or notice of appeal;
(ii)to the Upper Tribunal within 1 month after an enquiry by the Upper Tribunal; or
(iii)to HMRC or the Upper Tribunal when notifying a change of address after proceedings have been started.
(6) Where this paragraph applies, HMRC and the Upper Tribunal must take appropriate steps to secure the confidentiality of the address, and of any information which could reasonably be expected to enable a person to identify the address, to the extent that the address or that information is not already known to each other party.
(7) In this rule—
“eligible child” has the meaning set out in section 2 of the Child Trust Funds Act 2004; and
“HMRC” means Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.