2.—(1) The Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(1) shall be amended in accordance with sub-paragraphs (2) to (6).
(2) In regulation 1(2) (interpretation)—
(a)for the definition of “couple”(2) there shall be substituted the following definition—
““couple” means—
a man and woman who are married to each other and are members of the same household;
a man and woman who are not married to each other but are living together as husband and wife;
two people of the same sex who are civil partners of each other and are members of the same household; or
two people of the same sex who are not civil partners of each other but are living together as if they were civil partners,
and for the purposes of paragraph (d), two people of the same sex are to be regarded as living together as if they were civil partners if, but only if, they would be regarded as living together as husband and wife were they instead two people of the opposite sex;;”;
(b)in the definition of “family”(3), for “a married or unmarried couple” (in each place where it occurs) there shall be substituted “a couple”;
(c)the definitions of “married couple” and “unmarried couple” shall be omitted;
(d)in the definition of “partner”, in paragraph (a), for “a married or unmarried couple” there shall be substituted “a couple”.
(3) In regulation 18(2)(b) (excessive housing costs) after “divorce from,” there shall be inserted “dissolution of a civil partnership with,”.
(4) In Schedule 1 (calculation of N and M)—
(a)in paragraph 9A(2)(4), for “a war widow’s pension and a war widower’s pension” there shall be substituted “a war widow’s pension, a war widower’s pension and a surviving civil partner’s war pension”;
(b)in paragraph 22A(2)(5), for “a war widow’s pension and a war widower’s pension” there shall be substituted “a war widow’s pension, a war widower’s pension and a surviving civil partner’s war pension”.
(5) In Schedule 2 (amounts to be disregarded when calculating or estimating N and M)—
(a)in paragraph 44—
(i)after “a divorce” there shall be inserted “, dissolution of a civil partnership”, and
(ii)in sub-paragraph (a), after “the divorce” there shall be inserted “, dissolution of the civil partnership”;
(b)in paragraph 47F(6), for “widows and widowers” (in each place where it occurs) there shall be substituted “widows, widowers and surviving civil partners”.
(6) In Schedule 3 (eligible housing costs), in paragraph 7 (interpretation), in the definition of “close relative”, for “or the spouse of any of the preceding persons or, if that person is one of an unmarried couple, the other member of that couple” there shall be substituted “or if any of the preceding persons is one member of a couple, the other member of that couple”.
S.R. 1992 No. 341; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 1993 No.164, S.R. 1996 No. 317 and 590, S.R. 1999 No. 152 and S.R. 2003 No. 469
The definition of “couple” was inserted by regulation 5(2)(b) of S.R. 1993 No. 164
The definition of “family” was substituted by regulation 4(2) of S.R. 1996 No. 317 and amended by regulation 3(2)(a)(iii) of S.R. 1996 No. 590
Paragraph 9A was inserted by regulation 4(5)(f) of S.R. 1999 No. 152 and sub-paragraph (2) was amended by regulation 3(6)(a) of S.R. 2003 No. 469
Paragraph 22A was inserted by regulation 4(5)(h) of S.R. 1999 No. 152 and sub-paragraph (2) was amended by regulation 3(6)(b) of S.R. 2003 No. 469
Paragraph 47F was inserted by regulation 3(7)(d) of S.R. 2003 No. 469