PART 4N.I.THE MAINTENANCE CALCULATION RULES

CHAPTER 4N.I.SPECIAL CASES

Parent treated as a non-resident parent in shared care casesN.I.

49.—(1) Where the circumstances of a case are that—

(a)an application is made by a person with care under Article 7(1); and

(b)the person named in that application as the non-resident parent of the qualifying child also provides a home for that child (in a different household from the applicant) and shares the day to day care of that child with the applicant,

the case is to be treated as a special case for the purposes of the Child Support Order.

(2) For the purposes of this special case, the person mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) is to be treated as the non-resident parent if, and only if, that person provides day to day care to a lesser extent than the applicant.

(3) Where the applicant is receiving child benefit in respect of the qualifying child the applicant is assumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to be providing day to day care to a greater extent than any other person.

Child in care who is allowed to live with a parentN.I.

50.—(1) Where the circumstances of a case are that a qualifying child who is in the care of an authority is allowed by the authority to live with a parent of that child under Article 27(5) of the Children Order, that case is to be treated as a special case for the purposes of the Child Support Order.

(2) For the purposes of this case, Article 4(3)(b) is to be modified so that, for the reference to the person who usually provides day to day care for the child there is substituted a reference to the parent of the child with whom the authority has allowed the child to live.

Non-resident parent liable to maintain a child of the family or a child abroadN.I.

51.—(1) A case is to be treated as a special case for the purposes of the Child Support Order where—

(a)an application for a maintenance calculation has been made or a maintenance calculation is in force with respect to a qualifying child and a non-resident parent;

(b)there is a different child in respect of whom no application for a maintenance calculation may be made but whom the non-resident parent is liable to maintain—

(i)in accordance with a maintenance order made in respect of that child as a child of the non-resident parent’s family, or

(ii)in accordance with an order made by a court outside Northern Ireland or under the legislation of a jurisdiction outside the United Kingdom; and

(c)the weekly rate of child support maintenance, apart from this regulation, would be the basic rate, or the reduced rate, or would be calculated following agreement to a variation where the rate would otherwise be a flat rate or the nil rate.

(2) In any such case the amount of child support maintenance is to be calculated in accordance with paragraph 5A of Schedule 1 as if the child in question were a child with respect to whom the non-resident parent was a party to a qualifying maintenance arrangement.

(3) For the purposes of this regulation “child” includes a person who has not attained the age of 20 whom the non-resident parent is liable to maintain in accordance with paragraph (1)(b)(ii).

Care provided in part by an authorityN.I.

52.—(1) This regulation applies where paragraph (2) applies and the rate of child support maintenance payable is the basic rate, or the reduced rate, or has been calculated following agreement to a variation where the non-resident parent’s liability would otherwise have been the flat rate or the nil rate.

(2) Where the circumstances of a case are that the care of the qualifying child is shared between the person with care and an authority and—

(a)the qualifying child is in the care of the authority for 52 nights or more in the period of 12 months ending with the effective date of the relevant calculation decision;

(b)where, in the opinion of the Department, a period other than the period of 12 months mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) is more representative of the current arrangements for the care of the qualifying child, the qualifying child is in the care of the authority during that period for no fewer than the number of nights which bears the same ratio to 52 nights as that period bears to 12 months; or

(c)it is intended that the qualifying child is to be in the care of the authority for a number of nights in a period beginning with the day after the effective date and—

(i)if that period were a period of 12 months, the number of nights is 52 nights or more, or

(ii)if that period were a period other than 12 months, the number of nights is no fewer than the number of nights which bears the same ratio to 52 nights as that period bears to 12 months,

that case is to be treated as a special case for the purpose of the Child Support Order.

(3) In a case where this regulation applies, the amount of child support maintenance which the non-resident parent is liable to pay the person with care of that qualifying child is the amount calculated in accordance with the provisions of Part I of Schedule 1 and decreased in accordance with this regulation.

(4) First, there is to be a decrease according to the number of nights spent or to be spent by the qualifying child in the care of the authority during the period under consideration.

(5) Where paragraph (2)(b) or (c) applies, the number of nights in the period under consideration shall be adjusted by the ratio which the period of 12 months bears to the period under consideration.

(6) After any adjustment under paragraph (5), the amount of the decrease for one child is set out in the following Table—

(7) If the non-resident parent and the person with care have more than one qualifying child, the applicable decrease is the sum of the appropriate fractions in the Table divided by the number of such qualifying children.

(8) In a case where the amount of child support maintenance which the non-resident parent is liable to pay in relation to the same person with care is to be decreased in accordance with the provisions of both this regulation and of paragraph 7 of Part I of Schedule 1, read with these Regulations, the applicable decrease is the sum of the appropriate fractions derived under those provisions.

(9) If the application of this regulation would decrease the weekly amount of child support maintenance (or the aggregate of all such amounts) payable by the non-resident parent to less than the flat rate referred to in paragraph 4(1) of Schedule 1 (or in that sub-paragraph as modified by regulations under paragraph 10A of that Schedule), the non-resident parent is instead liable to pay child support maintenance at a rate equivalent to that rate, apportioned (if appropriate) in accordance with paragraph 6 of Schedule 1.

(10) If the number of nights calculated for the purposes of applying the Table in paragraph (6) is 263 or more, the amount of child support maintenance payable by the non-resident parent in respect of the child in question is nil.

(11) Where a qualifying child is a boarder at a boarding school or is an in-patient at a hospital, the qualifying child shall be treated as being in the care of an authority for any night that the authority would otherwise have been providing such care.

(12) A child is in the care of an authority for any night in which that child is being looked after by the authority within the meaning of Article 25 of the Children Order(2).

Care provided for relevant other child by an authorityN.I.

53.  Where a child, other than a qualifying child, is cared for in part or in full by an authority and the non-resident parent or the non-resident parent’s partner receives child benefit for that child the child is a relevant other child for the purposes of Schedule 1.

Child who is a boarder or an in-patient in hospitalN.I.

54.—(1) Where the circumstances of the case are that—

(a)a qualifying child is a boarder at a boarding school or is an in-patient in a hospital; and

(b)by reason of those circumstances, the person who would otherwise provide day to day care is not doing so,

that case is to be treated as a special case for the purposes of the Child Support Order.

(2) For the purposes of this case, Article 4(3)(b) is to be modified so that for the reference to the person who usually provides day to day care for the child there is substituted a reference to the person who would usually provide day to day care for that child but for the circumstances specified in paragraph (1).