The Child Support and Income Support (Amendment) Regulations 1995

Substitution of regulation 10 of the Arrears Regulations

8.  For regulation 10 of the Arrears Regulations, there shall be substituted the following regulation—

“Adjustment of the amount payable under a maintenance assessment

10.—(1) Where for any reason, including the retrospective effect of a new or fresh maintenance assessment, there has been an overpayment of child support maintenance, a child support officer may, for the purpose of taking account of that overpayment—

(a)apply the amount overpaid to reduce any arrears of child support maintenance due under any previous maintenance assessment made in respect of the same relevant persons; or

(b)Where there is no previous relevant maintenance assessment or an overpayment remains after the application for sub-paragraph (a), and subject to paragraph (4), adjust the amount payable under a current maintenance assessment by such amount as he considers appropriate in all the circumstances of the case having regard in particular to—

(i)the circumstances of the absent parent and the person with care;

(ii)the amount of the overpayment in relation to the amount due under the current maintenance assessment; and

(iii)the period over which it would be reasonable for the overpayment to be rectified.

(2) Where a child support officer has adjusted the amount payable under a maintenance assessment under the provisions of paragraph (1) and that maintenance assessment is subsequently reviewed under section 16, 17, 18 or 19 of the Act and a fresh maintenance assessment made, that adjustment shall, subject to paragraph (3), continue to apply to the amount payable under that fresh maintenance assessment unless a child support officer is satisfied that such adjustment would not be appropriate in all the circumstances of the case.

(3) Where a child support officer is satisfied that the adjustment referred to in paragraph (2) would not be appropriate, he may cancel that adjustment or he may adjust the amount payable under that fresh maintenance assessment as he sees fit, having regard to the matters specified in heads (i) to (iii) of sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1).

(4) Any adjustment under the provisions of paragraph (1), (2) or (3) shall not reduce the amount payable under a maintenance assessment to less than the minimum amount prescribed under paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 to the Act”.