The Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) (Amendment) Regulations 2000

Insertion of regulations 7B and 7CE+W+S

9.  After regulation 7A M1 (definitions for the purposes of regulations 3(5)(c), 6(2)(g), 7(2)(c) and (5) and ancillary provisions) there shall be inserted the following regulations—

“ Date from which a decision superseded under section 17 of the Child Support Act takes effect

7B.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (17) to (22), where a decision is superseded by a decision made by the Secretary of State in a case to which regulation 6A(2)(a) applies on the basis of information or evidence which was also the basis of a decision made under section 8, 9 or 10 of the Act, the decision under section 17 of the Child Support Act shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which that information or evidence was first brought to the attention of an officer exercising the functions of the Secretary of State under the Child Support Act (“the officer").

(2) Where a decision is superseded by a decision made by the Secretary of State in a case to which regulation 6A(3)(a) applies and the relevant circumstance is that the non-resident parent or his partner has notified the officer that he or his partner had made a claim for a relevant benefit and, where the relevant benefit is payable, that the officer was notified within one month of notification of the award, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which—

(a)the non-resident parent or his partner notified the officer that he or his partner had made a claim for a relevant benefit, where entitlement to that benefit commences on or before the date of notification; or

(b)entitlement to the relevant benefit commences, where that entitlement commenced after the date of notification.

(3) Where a decision is superseded by a decision made by the Secretary of State in a case to which regulation 6A(4) applies and the material fact is that the non-resident parent or his partner has notified the officer that he or his partner had made a claim for a relevant benefit before the Secretary of State notified him of an application for a maintenance calculation in accordance with regulation 5 of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations (notice of an application for a maintenance calculation) and, where the relevant benefit is payable, that the officer was notified within one month of notification of the award, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which—

(a)the non-resident parent or his partner notified the officer that he or his partner had made a claim for a relevant benefit, where entitlement to that benefit commences on or before the date of notification; or

(b)entitlement to the relevant benefit commences, where that entitlement commenced after the date of notification.

(4) Subject to paragraphs (17) to (22), where the superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(3)(a)(i) applies and that decision supersedes one which has been made under section 12(2) of the Child Support Act, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which the change of circumstances occurred.

(5) Where the superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(3)(a)(ii) applies, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which the change of circumstances is expected to occur.

(6) Where the superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(6) applies and the relevant circumstance is that a ground for a variation is expected to occur, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which the ground for the variation is expected to occur.

(7) Except in a case to which paragraph (1) applies, where the superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 7C applies, that decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period which includes the date which is 28 days after the date on which the Secretary of State gave notice to the relevant persons under that regulation.

(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7)—

(a)where the relevant persons are notified on different dates, the period of 28 days shall be counted from the date of the latest notification;

(b)notification includes oral and written notification;

(c)where a person is notified in more than one way, the date on which he is notified is the date on which he was first given notification; and

(d)the date of written notification is the date on which it was given or sent to the person.

(9) Where—

(a)a decision made by an appeal tribunal or by a Child Support Commissioner is superseded on the ground that it was erroneous due to a misrepresentation of, or that there was a failure to disclose, a material fact; and

(b)the Secretary of State is satisfied that the decision was more advantageous to the person who misrepresented or failed to disclose that fact than it would otherwise have been but for that error,

the superseding decision shall take effect from the date on which the decision of the appeal tribunal or, as the case may be, the Child Support Commissioner took, or was to take, effect.

(10) Any decision made under section 17 of the Child Support Act in consequence of a determination which is a relevant determination for the purposes of section 28ZC of that Act M2 shall take effect from the date of the relevant determination.

(11) Where a decision with respect to a reduced benefit decision is superseded because the decision ceases to be in force in accordance with regulation 16(a) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations (termination of a reduced benefit decision), the superseding decision shall have effect—

(a)where the decision is in operation immediately before it ceases to be in force, from the last day of the benefit week during the course of which the parent concerned falls within the provisions of section 46(1) of the Child Support Act; or

(b)where the decision is suspended immediately before it ceases to be in force, from the date on which the parent concerned falls within the provisions of section 46(1) of that Act.

(12) Where a decision with respect to a reduced benefit decision is superseded because the decision ceases to be in force in accordance with regulation 16(b) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations, the superseding decision shall have effect—

(a)where the decision is in operation immediately before it ceases to be in force, from the last day of the benefit week during the course of which the parent concerned complied with the obligations imposed by section 46(6)(b) of the Child Support Act; or

(b)where the decision is suspended immediately before it ceases to be in force, from the date on which the parent concerned complied with the obligations imposed by section 46(6)(b) of the Child Support Act.

(13) Where a decision with respect to a reduced benefit decision is superseded because the decision ceases to be in force in accordance with regulation 16(c) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations, the superseding decision shall have effect from the last day of the benefit week in which entitlement to benefit ceased.

(14) Where a decision with respect to a reduced benefit decision is superseded because the decision ceases to be in force in accordance with regulation 16(d) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations, the superseding decision shall have effect—

(a)where the decision is in operation immediately before it ceases to be in force, from the last day of the benefit week during the course of which the Secretary of State is supplied with information that enables him to make the calculation; or

(b)where the decision is suspended immediately before it ceases to be in force, from the date on which the Secretary of State is supplied with information that enables him to make the calculation.

(15) Where a decision with respect to a reduced benefit decision is superseded because the decision ceases to be in force in accordance with regulation 17(1) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations (reduced benefit decisions where there is an additional qualifying child), the superseding decision shall have effect from—

(a)the last day of the benefit week preceding the benefit week which includes, in accordance with the provisions of regulation 11(3) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations (amount of and period of reduction of relevant benefit under a reduced benefit decision), the first day on which the further decision comes into operation; or

(b)the first day on which the further decision would come into operation but for the provisions of regulation 14 of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations (suspension of a reduced benefit decision when a modified applicable amount is payable (income support)) or 15 (suspension of a reduced benefit decision when a modified applicable amount is payable (income-based jobseeker’s allowance)) of those Regulations.

(16) Where a decision with respect to a reduced benefit decision is superseded because the decision ceases to be in force in accordance with regulation 18(2) of the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations (suspension and termination of a reduced benefit decision where the sole qualifying child ceases to be a child or where the parent concerned ceases to be a person with care), the superseding decision shall have effect from the last day of the benefit week which includes the day on which the child ceases to be a child within the meaning of section 55 of the Child Support Act as supplemented by Schedule 1 to those Regulations, or the parent ceases to be the person with care.

(17) Where a superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(2)(a) or (3) applies and the relevant circumstance is the death of a qualifying child or a qualifying child ceasing to be a qualifying child, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which the change occurred.

(18) Where a superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(2)(a) or (3) applies and the relevant circumstance is that the non-resident parent, person with care or the qualifying child has moved out of the jurisdiction, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which the non-resident parent, person with care or qualifying child leaves the jurisdiction and jurisdiction is within the meaning of section 44 of the Child Support Act.

(19) Where a superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(2)(a) or (3) applies and the relevant circumstance is that the maintenance calculation has been made in response to an application which is treated as made under section 6 of the Child Support Act and—

(a)the person on whose application the calculation was made (“the applicant") asks the Secretary of State to cease acting; and

(b)the Secretary of State is satisfied that the applicant has ceased to fall within section 6(1) of that Act,

the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period after the applicant asks the Secretary of State to cease acting.

(20) Where a superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(2)(a) or (3) applies and the relevant circumstance is that both the non-resident parent and the person with care with respect to whom a maintenance calculation was made request the Secretary of State to decide that the maintenance calculation shall cease and he is satisfied that they are living together, the decision shall take effect from the first day of the maintenance period in which the later of the two requests was made.

(21) Where a superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(2)(a) or (3) applies and the relevant circumstance is that—

(a)an application for a maintenance calculation is made under section 4 or 7 of the Child Support Act, or treated as made under section 6(3) of that Act, in respect of a non-resident parent; and

(b)before the decision as to a maintenance calculation is made at least one other maintenance calculation is in force with respect to the same non-resident parent but to a different person with care and a different child,

the effective date of the maintenance calculation made in respect of the application shall be a date which is not later than 7 days after the date of notification to the non-resident parent and which is the day on which a maintenance period in respect of the maintenance calculation in force begins.

(22) Where a superseding decision is made in a case to which regulation 6A(3) applies and in relation to that decision a maintenance calculation is made to which paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 to the Child Support Act applies, the effective date of the calculation or calculations shall be the beginning of the maintenance period in which the change of circumstance to which the calculation or calculations relates occurred or is expected to occur and where that change occurred before the date of the application for the supersession and was notified after that date, the date of that application.

(23) In this regulation—

• “benefit week" in relation to income support has the same meaning as in regulation 2(1) of the Income Support Regulations, and in relation to jobseeker’s allowance has the same meaning as in regulation 1(3) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations;

• “partner" has the same meaning as in regulation 2 of the Income Support Regulations; and

• “relevant benefit" means a benefit which is prescribed in regulation 4 of the Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases Regulations for the purposes of paragraph 4(1)(b) of Part I of Schedule 1 to the Child Support Act, and child benefit as referred to in paragraph 10C(2)(a) of Part I of Schedule 1 to that Act.

Procedure where the Secretary of State proposes to supersede a decision under section 17 of the Child Support Act on his own initiative

7C.  Where the Secretary of State on his own initiative proposes to make a decision superseding a decision he shall notify the relevant persons who could be materially affected by the decision of that intention.”.