- Latest available (Revised)
- Point in Time (30/04/2012)
- Original (As made)
Version Superseded: 01/08/2012
Point in time view as at 30/04/2012.
There are currently no known outstanding effects for the The Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) Regulations 2009.
Revised legislation carried on this site may not be fully up to date. At the current time any known changes or effects made by subsequent legislation have been applied to the text of the legislation you are viewing by the editorial team. Please see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for details regarding the timescales for which new effects are identified and recorded on this site.
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) Regulations 2009 and come into force on 25th January 2010.
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the 1991 Act” means the Child Support Act 1991;
“a 1993 scheme case” means a case in respect of which the provisions of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 M1 have not been brought into force in accordance with article 3 of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (Commencement No. 12) Order 2003 M2;
“the AIMA Regulations” means the Child Support (Arrears, Interest and Adjustment of Maintenance Assessments) Regulations 1992 M3;
“the Decisions and Appeals Regulations” means the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999 M4;
“non-resident parent” includes a person treated as a non-resident parent by virtue of regulations made under section 42 of the 1991 Act;
“relevant person” means—
a person with care;
a non-resident parent;
where the application for a maintenance calculation is made by a child under section 7 of the 1991 Act, that child,
in respect of whom a maintenance calculation is or has been in force.
(2) In the application of these Regulations to a 1993 scheme case, any reference to expressions in the 1991 Act (including “non-resident parent” and “maintenance calculation”) or to regulations made under that Act are to be read with the necessary modifications.
3.—(1) This regulation applies to a case where—
[F1(a)include the amount of all outstanding arrears of child support maintenance due and not paid;]
(b)the non-resident parent has failed to make one or more payments of child support maintenance due.
(2) Where the Commission 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 AIMA Regulations M5; 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 section 29 of the 1991 Act.
Textual Amendments
F1Reg. 3(3)(a) substituted (30.4.2012) by The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/712), regs. 1(1), 3
Marginal Citations
M5Regulation 8 was substituted by S.I. 1995/3261 and amended by S.I. 1996/1345 and 2001/162. References to the Secretary of State in that regulation are treated as references to the Commission by virtue of paragraph 55(3) of Schedule 3 to the 2008 Act, as the function of the Secretary of State was transferred to the Commission by section 13 of that Act.
4. Where a maintenance calculation is or has been in force and there are arrears of child support maintenance, the Commission may attribute any payment of child support maintenance made by a non-resident parent to child support maintenance due as it thinks fit.
5.—(1) The circumstances prescribed for the purposes of section 41C(1)(a) of the 1991 Act, in which the Commission may set off liabilities to pay child support maintenance, are set out in paragraph (2).
(2) The Commission 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 section 41 of the 1991 Act.
6.—(1) The circumstances prescribed for the purposes of section 41C(1)(b) of the 1991 Act, in which the Commission may set off a payment against a person's liability to pay child support maintenance, are set out in paragraph (2).
(2) The Commission 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 section 41C(1)(b) of the 1991 Act 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)council tax 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.
7.—(1) In setting off a person's liability for child support maintenance under this Part, the Commission 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 Commission 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.
8.—(1) Where for any reason, including the retrospective effect of a maintenance calculation, there has been an overpayment of child support maintenance, the Commission 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 Commission 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.
9.—(1) Where there has been a voluntary payment M6 the Commission 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 Commission 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.
Marginal Citations
M6“Voluntary payment” is defined in section 54 of the 1991 Act, by reference to section 28J of that Act. The definition was inserted by section 26 of, and Schedule 3 to, the 2000 Act.
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 force.
(2) In this Part, “child support maintenance” means child support maintenance for the collection of which the Commission is authorised to make arrangements.
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 Commission.
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 1991 Act, 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 Commission 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.”.
13.—(1) The Commission may disclose information held for the purposes of the 1991 Act to the deceased's executor or administrator where, in the opinion of the Commission, 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 1991 Act.
(2) Any application for information under this regulation shall be made to the Commission in writing setting out the reasons for the application.
(3) Except where a person gives written permission to the Commission 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 Commission under the 1991 Act, 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.
14. The Regulations specified in the Schedule are revoked to the extent specified.
15.—(1) Where before these Regulations come into force, an adjustment has been made under regulation 10(1) of the AIMA Regulations in a 1993 scheme case, regulations 10(2) and (3) and 11 to 17 M7 of those Regulations 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 force.
(2) Where before these Regulations come into force, an adjustment has been made under regulation 10(1) or (3A) M8 of the AIMA Regulations in a case other than a 1993 scheme case, regulation 30A M9 of the Decisions and Appeals Regulations continues to apply to that case for the purposes of making and determining any appeal against the adjustment.
Marginal Citations
M7Regulation 10(1) was substituted by S.I. 1995/1045 and amended by S.I. 1999/1510. Regulation 10(2) and (3) was amended by S.I. 1999/1510. Regulation 11 was substituted by S.I. 1995/1045 and amended by S.I. 1999/1510. Regulations 12 to 17 were substituted by S.I. 1999/1510 and regulation 14 was amended by S.I. 2008/2683.
M8Regulation 10(1) was substituted by S.I. 1995/1045 and amended by S.I. 1999/1510 and 2001/162, in relation to cases other than 1993 scheme cases. Regulations 10(3A) was inserted by S.I. 2001/162.
M9Regulation 30A was inserted by S.I. 2000/3185 and amended by S.I. 2008/2683 and S.I. 2009/396.
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.
Helen Goodman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,
Department for Work and Pensions
30th November 2009
Latest Available (revised):The latest available updated version of the legislation incorporating changes made by subsequent legislation and applied by our editorial team. Changes we have not yet applied to the text, can be found in the ‘Changes to Legislation’ area.
Original (As Enacted or Made): The original version of the legislation as it stood when it was enacted or made. No changes have been applied to the text.
Point in Time: This becomes available after navigating to view revised legislation as it stood at a certain point in time via Advanced Features > Show Timeline of Changes or via a point in time advanced search.
Geographical Extent: Indicates the geographical area that this provision applies to. For further information see ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.
Show Timeline of Changes: See how this legislation has or could change over time. Turning this feature on will show extra navigation options to go to these specific points in time. Return to the latest available version by using the controls above in the What Version box.
Explanatory Memorandum sets out a brief statement of the purpose of a Statutory Instrument and provides information about its policy objective and policy implications. They aim to make the Statutory Instrument accessible to readers who are not legally qualified and accompany any Statutory Instrument or Draft Statutory Instrument laid before Parliament from June 2004 onwards.
Access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item from this tab. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
This timeline shows the different points in time where a change occurred. The dates will coincide with the earliest date on which the change (e.g an insertion, a repeal or a substitution) that was applied came into force. The first date in the timeline will usually be the earliest date when the provision came into force. In some cases the first date is 01/02/1991 (or for Northern Ireland legislation 01/01/2006). This date is our basedate. No versions before this date are available. For further information see the Editorial Practice Guide and Glossary under Help.
Use this menu to access essential accompanying documents and information for this legislation item. Dependent on the legislation item being viewed this may include:
Click 'View More' or select 'More Resources' tab for additional information including: