2000 Act - links to full text of Statutory Instruments

"These Regulations are made pursuant to section 28J ... Section 28J of the Act provides for the Secretary of State to offset against child support maintenance arrears, or to adjust a maintenance calculation to take account of, voluntary payments.

"Regulation 2 defines a "voluntary payment" ... and provides that, to be a voluntary payment, a payment must be made on or after the effective date of the maintenance calculation .... Regulation 3 defines the types of payments which may count as voluntary payments and regulation 4 defines the evidence or verification of such payments which the Secretary of State may require to be provided."

Various, and modified by later SIs:
"These Regulations make transitional provisions ....

"Part II ... makes provision for decision making and appeals in relation to maintenance assessments made with effect before the date the new child support system comes into force for new cases. In particular provision is made for a conversion decision under which the assessment under the previous scheme becomes a calculation under the new scheme.

"Part III ... makes transitional provision. It specifies those cases where a transitional amount, instead of the new amount, is payable during a transitional period beginning on the case conversion date as provided for in regulation 15. The new amount is determined by a conversion calculation, ... and the transitional amount is determined by applying the phasing amounts, ... to the amount payable under the maintenance assessment, or the conversion calculation, as appropriate .... Regulation 16(2) provides for the dispute provisions ..., to apply to the conversion decision when made. Regulation 25 provides for a maximum transitional amount to be payable of 30% of the non-resident parent's income. Regulation 28 contains linking rules.

"Part IV ... concerns certain cases where a maintenance calculation follows a court order which provided for child maintenance and provides for the amount payable to be phased by reference to transitional amounts ...."

This provides a lot of the details about applying the new formula, such as what counts as earnings, details about relevant benefits and about pensions, what counts as a night for shared care, etc.

Debate in Second Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation.

A large SI on this topic:
"These Regulations provide for variations to the rate of child maintenance payable ... consequent upon the introduction of changes to the child support system made by the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (c. 19). Subject to savings for transitional purposes these Regulations revoke the Child Support Departure Direction and Consequential Amendments Regulations 1996 ....

"Part II ... sets out the procedure for making and determining applications for a variation. This includes the ability to reject an application on a preliminary consideration. Among the reasons for this may be because the application is for an amount which does not exceed a threshold applicable to the ground, or because a circumstance prescribed for the purposes of section 28E of the Act ... applies. The Secretary of State is enabled to request further information ... and may invite representations ....

"Part III ... gives details of what constitutes expenses for the purposes of the ground for a variation i.... Part IV ... is concerned with a variation ... in relation to a property or capital transfer, and Part V ... concerns the additional cases for which provision is made in paragraph 4 of that Schedule. The factors to be taken into account in determining whether it would be just and equitable to agree a variation ... are set out in Part VI ....

"Part VII ... provides for the effective date of maintenance calculations which take account of a variation, for the way in which each type of variation is to affect the non-resident parent's liability, for situations where a variation may be applied without an application and for the circumstances ... in which a variation is not to be agreed to. Part VIII ... prescribes the amount payable under the regular payments condition ...."

There is a discussion on this web site about the effect of the income of NRPs' new partners.

Lots of details here:
"These Regulations provide for various procedural matters relating to an application for a maintenance calculation ... and make provision in respect of effective dates of calculations and of reduced benefit decisions ....

"Regulation 2 contains provisions relating to the service and receipt of documents and regulation 3 sets out the procedures in relation to an application for a maintenance calculation. Regulation 4 and Schedule 2 provide for multiple applications for a maintenance calculation. Regulations 5 and 6 provide for notice to be given to the non-resident parent and any other relevant person when an effective application for a maintenance calculation has been made or treated as made by the person with care, and for the procedure on the death of a qualifying child. Regulation 7 prescribes the default rate, payable when a default maintenance decision is made under section 12(1) of the Act.

"Regulation 8 contains provisions relating to interpretation for the purposes of Part IV of these Regulations (reduced benefit decisions). Regulation 9 prescribes the period within which reasons are to be given by the parent with care for the purposes of section 46(2) of the Act. Regulations 10 to 20 make provision as to the amount and duration of reduced benefit decisions following a request under section 6(5) of the Act, or a failure to comply with the obligation in section 6(7) of the Act, or a refusal to take a scientific test (within the meaning of section 27A of the Act).

"Regulation 21 prescribes persons who are not persons with care for the purposes of the Act and regulation 22 makes provision for the authorisation of representatives. Regulations 23 and 24 set out what is to be notified following decisions by the Secretary of State. Regulations 25 to 29 prescribe the effective dates of maintenance calculations."

Lots of details, but regulation 8 is the major one:
"These Regulations amend the Child Support (Information, Evidence and Disclosure) Regulations 1992 ... and the Child Support (Maintenance Arrangements and Jurisdiction) Regulations 1992 ....

"Regulation 8 prescribes the companies and bodies based in the United Kingdom that employ someone not habitually resident for the purposes of section 44(2A) of the Act in the United Kingdom."

Some useful information about enforcement, penalties, etc:
"These Regulations amend the Child Support (Collection and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 ... the Child Support (Collection and Enforcement of Other Forms of Maintenance) Regulations 1992 ... and the Child Support (Arrears, Interest and Adjustment of Maintenance Assessments) Regulations 1992 ....

"Regulation 2(3), (6)(a), (7) and (8) makes various amendments to reflect ... changes to the method of collecting fees and methods of payment, the introduction into the Act of the ability to make voluntary payments in the period before a maintenance calculation is made, and the introduction into the Act of a system of penalty payments. Regulation 2(4) inserts Part IIA in the Collection and Enforcement Regulations to provide for the collection of penalty payments. Regulation 2(5) makes amendments to the Collection and Enforcement Regulations to reflect changes in the Act relating to deduction from earnings orders and also to reflect changes in terminology and provisions dealing with the collection of interest, fees and penalty payments.

"Regulation 2(6)(c) inserts regulation 35 in the Collection and Enforcement Regulations, which makes provision in relation to disqualification from driving orders. The regulation provides for the procedures to be followed on the making of such orders. Regulation 2(9) inserts the Schedule to these Regulations as Schedule 4 to the Collection and Enforcement Regulations, which is a form of order of disqualification from holding or obtaining a driving licence."

This is a substantial SI that makes a range of amendments on different topics.

Debate in First Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation.

These Regulations amend the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999.

Debate in Third Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation.

The Child Support (Temporary Compensation Payment Scheme) (Modification and Amendment) Regulations 2002

The temporary compensation payment scheme helps non-resident parents who are faced with substantial arrears, partly through no fault of their own, and provides encouragement for them to keep up regular payments of maintenance. Essentially, where the CSA has been responsible for a delay of at least three months, the deferred debt scheme allows the agency to come to an agreement with the non-resident parent. If the non-resident parent agrees to pay at least six months' worth of his arrears, as well as his existing continuing liability, the agency can suspend any collection and enforcement action on the balance of the arrears.

As a result, if the non-resident parent keeps to his agreement, he will cease to be liable for the remaining arrears. If that money is paid, the agency may then make a compensatory payment to the parent with care if the money is owed to her or him, as the case may be. However, if he defaults, the remaining arrears will remain payable. The intention behind the regulations is to ensure that where the agency has been in part responsible for the delay, non-resident parents do not find themselves with a hill to climb that they cannot manage.

Debate in Eighth Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation.

Appeals against child support decisions are made under Section 20 of the Child Support Act 1991. Such appeals are normally determined by an appeal tribunal established under the Social Security Act 1998. But appeals on the ground of disputed parentage are routed to a court instead of an appeal tribunal by the Child Support Appeals (Jurisdiction of Courts) Order 1993, and now this 2002 SI. Declarations of parentage have a wider legal application beyond child support. It is sensible to import the existing powers to go to the courts into the new child support regulations. As a result, this will be binding on the agency.

A non-resident parent can declare and reply directly to the court at any time. Such a declaration is then binding on the CSA. If the person in question is found not to be the parent of the child, any child support maintenance that he may already have paid will be refunded in full by the agency.

Debate in Eighth Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation.

This is the Commencement Order for the new scheme for new and linked cases.

See: 2000 Act - sections, links to the text & dates.

"These Regulations amend the Social Security (Child Maintenance Premium and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2000 ..."

(This clarifies the change from the Child Maintenance Bonus to the Child Maintenance Premium")

SIs will keep being introduced to add all necessary detail and to bring all relevant sections of the 2000 Act into law.