The Child Support (Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases) Regulations 2000

Now, therefore, the Secretary of State for Social Security, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 14(1) and (1A), 42, 51, 52(4) and 54 of, and paragraphs 3(2), 4(1)(b) and (c), 4(3), 5(a), 7(3), 9, 10 and 10C(2)(b) of Schedule 1 to, the Child Support Act 1991[^f00002], and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

PART I — GENERAL

Citation, commencement and interpretation

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• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Child Support (Maintenance Calculations and Special Cases) Regulations 2000.

• (2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the Act” means the Child Support Act 1991;

• “care home” in England has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Care Standards Act 2000;

• “care home service” in Wales means a care home service within the meaning of Part 1 of the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 which is provided wholly or mainly to persons aged 18 or over and in Scotland has the meaning assigned to it by paragraph2 of schedule12 to the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010;

• “child tax credit” means a child tax credit under section 8 of the Tax Credits Act 2002;

• “contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance” means an allowance under the Jobseekers Act as amended by the provisions of Part 1 of Schedule 14 to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 that remove references to an income-based allowance, and a contribution-based allowance under the Jobseekers Act as that Act has effect apart from those provisions;

• “Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992[^f00003];

• “Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992[^f00004];

• “contributory employment and support allowance” means an allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act as amended by the provisions of Schedule 3, and Part 1 of Schedule 14, to the Welfare Reform Act 2012 that remove references to an income-related allowance, and a contributory allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act as that Part has effect apart from those provisions;

• “couple” means—two people who are married to, or civil partners of, each other and are members of the same household; ortwo people who are not married to, or civil partners of, each other but are living together as a married couple;

• “course of advanced education” means—a full-time course leading to a postgraduate degree or comparable qualification, a first degree or comparable qualification, a Diploma of Higher Education, a higher national diploma, a higher national diploma or higher national certificate of the Business and Technology Education Council or Qualifications Scotland or a teaching qualification; orany other full-time course which is a course of a standard above that of an ordinary national diploma, a national diploma or national certificate of the Business and Technology Education Council or Qualifications Scotland, the advanced level of the General Certificate of Education, a Scottish certificate of education (higher level), a Scottish certificate of sixth year studies or a Scottish National Qualification at Higher Level;

• “day” includes any part of a day;

• “day to day care” means—care of not less than 104 nights in total during the 12 month period ending with the relevant week; orwhere, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, a period other than 12 months is more representative of the current arrangements for the care of the child in question, care during that period of not less in total than the number of nights which bears the same ratio to 104 nights as that period bears to 12 months, and for the purpose of this definition—where a child is a boarder at a boarding school or is a patient in a hospital or other circumstances apply, such as where the child stays with a person who is not a parent of the child, and which the Secretary of State regards as temporary, the person who, but for those circumstances, would otherwise provide day to day care of the child shall be treated as providing day to day care during the periods in question; and“relevant week” shall have the meaning ascribed to it in the definition in this paragraph, except that in a case where notification is given under regulation 7C of the Decisions and Appeals Regulations[^f00005] to the relevant persons on different dates, “relevant week” means the period of 7 days immediately preceding the date of the latest notification;

• “Decisions and Appeals Regulations” means the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 1999[^f00006];

• ...

• “effective date” means the date on which a maintenance calculation takes effect for the purposes of the Act;

• “employed earner” has the same meaning as in section 2(1)(a) of the Contributions and Benefits Act except that it shall include—a person gainfully employed in Northern Ireland; ...a person to whom section 44(2A)[^f00008] of the Act applies;and a person gainfully employed outside the United Kingdom if the person’s income from that employment is chargeable to tax under the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 or would be were it not for any double taxation arrangements under Part 2 of the Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010.

• “family” means—a couple (including the members of a polygamous marriage) and any member of the same household for whom one or more of them is responsible and who is a child; ora person who is not a member of a couple and a member of the same household for whom that person is responsible and who is a child;

• “home” means—the dwelling in which a person and any family of his normally live; orif he or they normally live in more than one home, the principal home of that person and any family of his, and for the purpose of determining the principal home in which a person normally lives no regard shall be had to residence in a care home or an independent hospital or the provision of a care home service or an independent health care service during a period which does not exceed 52 weeks or, where it appears to the Secretary of State that the person will return to his principal home after that period has expired, such longer period as the Secretary of State considers reasonable to allow for the return of that person to that home;

• “Income Support Regulations” means the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987[^f00009];

• ”independent health care service” has the meaning assigned to it by section 10F(1)(a) and (b) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978;

• “independent hospital”—in England, means a hospital as defined by section 275 of the National Health Service Act 2006 that is not a health service hospital as defined by that section; andin Wales, has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000;

• “the Jobseekers Act” means the Jobseekers Act 1995[^f00010];

• “Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations” means the Child Support (Maintenance Calculation Procedure) Regulations 2000[^f00011];

• “net weekly income” has the meaning given in the Schedule to these Regulations;

• ...

• “occupational pension scheme” means such a scheme within the meaning in section 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993[^f00012] and which is approved for the purposes of Part XIV of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988[^f00013] or is a statutory scheme to which section 594 of that Act applies;

• “partner” means—in relation to a member of a couple, the other member of that couple;in relation to a member of a polygamous marriage, any other member of that marriage with whom he lives;

• “patient” means a person (other than a person who is serving a sentence of imprisonment or detention in a young offender institution within the meaning of the Criminal Justice Act 1982[^f00014] or the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1989[^f00015] who is regarded as receiving free in-patient treatment within the meaning of the Social Security (Hospital In-Patients) Regulations 1975[^f00016];

• “person” does not include a local authority;

• “personal pension scheme” means such a scheme within the meaning in section 1 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 and which is approved for the purposes of Part XIV of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988;

• “polygamous marriage” means any marriage during the subsistence of which a party to it is married to more than one person and in respect of which any ceremony of marriage took place under the law of a country which at the time of that ceremony permitted polygamy;

• “prisoner” means a person who is detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction or under a sentence imposed by a court other than a person whose detention is under the Mental Health Act 1983[^f00017] or Part 5, 6 or 7 or section 136 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) 2003 Act or section 52D or 52M of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995;

• “relevant week” means—in relation to an application for child support maintenance—where the application is made by a non-resident parent, the period of 7 days immediately before the application is made; andin any other case, the period of 7 days immediately before the date of notification to the non-resident parent and for this purpose “the date of notification to the non-resident parent” means the date on which the non-resident parent is first given notice by the Secretary of State under the Maintenance Calculation Procedure Regulations that an application for a maintenance calculation has been made... in relation to which the non-resident parent is named as the parent of the child to whom the application relates;where a decision (“the original decision”) is to be—revised under section 16 of the Act; orsuperseded by a decision under section 17 of the Act on the grounds that the original decision was made in ignorance of, or was based upon a mistake as to, some material fact or was erroneous in point of law,the period of 7 days which was the relevant week for the purposes of the original decision;where a decision (“the original decision”) is to be superseded under section 17 of the Act—on an application made for the purpose on the basis that a material change of circumstances has occurred since the original decision was made, the period of 7 days immediately preceding the date on which that application was made;subject to sub-paragraph (b), in a case where a relevant person is given notice under regulation 7C of the Decisions and Appeals Regulations, the period of 7 days immediately preceding the date of that notification,except that where, under paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 to the Act, the Secretary of State makes separate maintenance calculations in respect of different periods in a particular case, because he is aware of one or more changes of circumstances which occurred after the date which is applicable to that case, the relevant week for the purposes of each separate maintenance calculation made to take account of each such change of circumstances shall be the period of 7 days immediately before the date on which notification was given to the Secretary of State of the change of circumstances relevant to that separate maintenance calculation;

• ...

• “retirement annuity contract” means an annuity contract for the time being approved by the Board of Inland Revenue as having for its main object the provision of a life annuity in old age or the provision of an annuity for a partner or dependant and in respect of which relief from income tax may be given on any premium;

• “self-employed earner” has the same meaning as in section 2(1)(b) of the Contributions and Benefits Act except that it includes a person gainfully employed otherwise than in employed earner’s employment (whether or not he is also employed in such employment)–in Northern Ireland; oroutside the United Kingdom if the person’s income from that gainful employment is chargeable to tax under the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 or would be were it not for any double taxation arrangements made under Part 2 of the Taxation (International and Other Provisions) Act 2010.

• “state pension credit” means the social security benefit of that name payable under the State Pension Credit Act 2002;

• “student” means a person, other than a person in receipt of a training allowance, who is aged less than 19 and attending a full-time course of advanced education or who is aged 19 or over and attending a full-time course of study at an educational establishment; and for the purposes of this definition—a person who has started on such a course shall be treated as attending it throughout any period of term or vacation within it, until the last day of the course or such earlier date as he abandons it or is dismissed from it;a person on a sandwich course (within the meaning of paragraph 1(1) of Schedule 5 to the Education (Mandatory Awards) (No. 2) Regulations 1993[^f00019]) shall be treated as attending a full-time course of advanced education or, as the case may be, of study;

• “training allowance” means a payment under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 (“the 1973 Act”), or section 2 of the Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990 (“the 1990 Act”), which is paid—to a person for his maintenance; andin respect of a period during which that person—is undergoing training pursuant to arrangements made under section 2 of the 1973 Act or section 2 of the 1990 Act; andhas no net weekly income of a type referred to in Part II or Part III of the Schedule;

• “war widow’s pension” means any pension or allowance payable for a widow which is—granted in respect of a death due to service or war injury and payable by virtue of the Air Force (Constitution) Act 1917, the Personal Injuries (Emergency Provisions) Act 1939, the Pensions (Navy, Army, Air Force and Mercantile Marine) Act 1939, the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 or Part VII or section 151 of the Reserve Forces Act 1980;payable under so much of any Order in Council, Royal Warrant, order or scheme as relates to death due to service in the armed forces of the Crown, wartime service in the merchant navy or war injuries;payable in respect of death due to peacetime service in the armed forces of the Crown before 3rd September 1939, and payable at rates, and subject to conditions, similar to those of a pension within sub-paragraph (b); orpayable under the law of a country other than the United Kingdom and of a character substantially similar to a pension within sub-paragraph (a), (b) or (c),and “war widower’s pension” and “surviving civil partner's war pension shall be construed accordingly;

• “the Welfare Reform Act” means the Welfare Reform Act 2007;

• “work-based training for young people or, in Scotland, Skillseekers training” means—arrangements made under section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 or section 2 of the Enterprise and New Towns (Scotland) Act 1990; orarrangements made by the Secretary of State for persons enlisted in Her Majesty’s forces for any special term of service specified in regulations made under section 2 of the Armed Forces Act 1966[^f00022] (power of Defence Council to make regulations as to engagement of persons in regular forces),for purposes which include the training of persons who, at the beginning of their training, are under the age of 18;

• “working tax credit” means a working tax credit under section 10 of the Tax Credits Act 2002;

• “year” means a period of 52 weeks.

• (3) For the purposes of paragraph 10C(2)(b) of Schedule 1 to the Act (which provides for other descriptions of relevant other children to be prescribed) “relevant other child” includes a child, other than a qualifying child, in respect of whom the non-resident parent or the non-resident parent’s partner—

• (a) would receive child benefit under Part IX of the Contributions and Benefits Act, but in respect of whom they do not do so, solely because the conditions set out in section 146 of that Act (persons outside Great Britain) are not met; or

• (b) has made an election under section 13A(1) of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (election not to receive child benefit) for payments of child benefit not to be made.

• (4) Subject to paragraph (5), these Regulations shall come into force in relation to a particular case on the day on which Part I of Schedule 1 to the 1991 Act as amended by the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 comes into force in relation to that type of case.

• (5) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of regulation 4 and, for the purposes of those provisions, this regulation shall come into force on 31st January 2001.

PART II — CALCULATION OF CHILD SUPPORT MAINTENANCE

Calculation of amounts

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• (1) Where any amount is to be considered in connection with any calculation made under these Regulations or under Schedule 1 to the Act, it shall be calculated as a weekly amount and, except where the context otherwise requires, any reference to such an amount shall be construed accordingly.

• (2) Subject to paragraph (3), where any calculation made under these Regulations or under Schedule 1 to the Act results in a fraction of a penny that fraction shall be treated as a penny if it is either one half or exceeds one half, otherwise it shall be disregarded.

• (3) Where the calculation of the basic rate of child support maintenance or the reduced rate of child support maintenance results in a fraction of a pound that fraction shall be treated as a pound if it is either one half or exceeds one half, otherwise it shall be disregarded.

• (4) In taking account of any amounts or information required for the purposes of making a maintenance calculation, the Secretary of State shall apply the dates or periods specified in these Regulations as applicable to those amounts or information, provided that if he becomes aware of a material change of circumstances occurring after such date or period, but before the effective date, he shall take that change of circumstances into account.

• (5) Information required for the purposes of making a maintenance calculation in relation to the following shall be the information applicable at the effective date—

• (a) the number of qualifying children;

• (b) the number of relevant other children;

• (c) whether the non-resident parent receives a benefit, pension or allowance prescribed for the purposes of paragraph 4(1)(b) of Schedule 1 to the Act;

• (d) whether the non-resident parent or his partner receives a benefit prescribed for the purposes of paragraph 4(1)(c) of Schedule 1 to the Act; and

• (e) whether paragraph 5(a) of Schedule 1 to the Act applies to the non-resident parent.

Reduced Rate

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The reduced rate is an amount calculated as follows—