The Childcare Payments (Eligibility) Regulations 2015

When a person is regarded as responsible for a child

4.—(1) For the purposes of the Act, a person is regarded as responsible for a child who normally lives with the person.

(2) A person is not regarded as responsible for a child during any period when the child is—

(a) continuously absent from the person’s household for a period which exceeds, or is expected to exceed, 6 months;

(b) a prisoner;

(c) looked after by a local authority; or

(d) placed for adoption by an adoption agency in the home of a person proposing to adopt the child.

(3) A child is not looked after by a local authority for the purpose of paragraph (2)(c)—

(a) during any period which is in the nature of a planned short term break, or is one of a series of such breaks, for the purpose of providing respite for the person with whom the child normally lives; or

(b) during any period when the child is placed with, or continues to live with, the child’s parent or a person who has parental responsibility for the child.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3), a person has parental responsibility if that person is not a foster parent and—

(a) in England and Wales, has parental responsibility as defined by section 3 of the Children Act 1989(1);

(b) in Scotland, has any or all of the legal responsibilities or rights described in section 1 or 2 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995(2); or

(c) in Northern Ireland, has parental responsibility as defined by article 6 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(3).

(5) In this regulation—

“adoption agency” has the meaning given (for England and Wales) in section 2 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002(4), (for Scotland) in section 119 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007(5), and (for Northern Ireland) in article 3 of the Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987(6);

“looked after by a local authority” has the meaning given in section 22 of the Children Act 1989(7), section 17(6) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995(8) or article 25 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995(9) (with the modification that for the reference to a local authority there is substituted a reference to an authority within the meaning of article 2 of that Order);

“placed for adoption” means placed for adoption in accordance with—

(a)

the Adoption Agencies Regulations 2005(10);

(b)

the Adoption Agencies (Wales) Regulations 2005(11);

(c)

the Adoption Agencies (Scotland) Regulations 2009(12); or

(d)

the Adoption Agencies Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989(13).

(1)

1989 c. 41.

(2)

1995 c. 36. Sections 1 and 2 were amended by paragraphs 48 and 49 of Schedule 6(2) to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c. 22).

(3)

S.I. 1995/755 (N.I. 2).

(4)

2002 c. 38.

(5)

2007 asp 4.

(6)

S.I. 1987/2203 (N.I. 22). Article 3 was amended by S.I. 1994/429 (N.I. 2), sections 32 and 34 of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 6 to, the Health and Social Care (Reform) Act (Northern Ireland) 2009 (c. 1), S.I. 2003/431 (N.I. 9) and S.R. 2010 No. 288.

(7)

Section 22 was amended by paragraph 19 of Schedule 5 to the Local Government Act 2000 (c. 22), section 2(2) of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 (c. 35), section 116(2) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c. 38), section 52 of the Children Act 2004 (c. 31), paragraphs 1 and 6 of Schedule 3 to the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 (c. 23) and section 99 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (c. 6).

(8)

Section 17(6) was amended by paragraph 9 of Schedule 2 to the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 4), paragraph 2 of Schedule 5 to the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (asp 1) and S.S.I. 2013/211.

(9)

Article 25 was amended by section 2(1) of the Children (Leaving Care) Act (Northern Ireland) 2002 (c. 11).

(10)

S.I. 2005/389, to which there are amendments not relevant to this regulation.

(11)

S.I. 2005/1313 (W. 95), to which there are amendments not relevant to this regulation.

(12)

S.S.I. 2009/154, to which there are amendments not relevant to this regulation.

(13)

S.R. 1989 No. 253.