Child Support (Collection and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
1992 No. 1989
FAMILY LAWCHILD SUPPORT
The Child Support (Collection and Enforcement) Regulations 1992
Made 17th August 1992
Laid before Parliament 26th August 1992
Coming into force 5th April 1993
The Secretary of State for Social Security, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 29(2) and (3), 31(8), 32(1) to (5) and (7) to (9), 34(1), 35(2), (7) and (8), 39(1), (3) and (4), 40(4), (8) and (11), 51, 52 and 54 of the Child Support Act 19911and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:
PART I
GENERAL
Citation, commencement and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Child Support (Collection and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 and shall come into force on 5th April 1993.
(2) In these Regulations “the Act” means the Child Support Act 1991.
(3) Where under any provision of the Act or of these Regulations—
(a)
(a) any document or notice is given or sent to the Secretary of State, it shall be treated as having been given or sent on the day it is received by the Secretary of State; and
(b)
(b) any document or notice is given or sent to any other person, it shall, if sent by post to that person’s last known or notified address, be treated as having been given or sent on the second day after the day of posting, excluding any Sunday or any day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 19712.
(4) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a reference—
(a)
(a) to a numbered Part is to the Part of these Regulations bearing that number;
(b)
(b) to a numbered regulation is to the regulation in these Regulations bearing that number;
(c)
(c) in a regulation to a numbered or lettered paragraph or sub-paragraph is to the paragraph or sub-paragraph in that regulation bearing that number or letter;
(d)
(d) in a paragraph to a lettered or numbered sub-paragraph is to the sub-paragraph in that paragraph bearing that letter or number;
(e)
(e) to a numbered Schedule is to the Schedule to these Regulations bearing that number.
PART II
COLLECTION OF CHILD SUPPORT MAINTENANCE
Payment of child support maintenance
2.—(1) Where a maintenance assessment has been made under the Act and the case is one to which section 29 of the Act applies, the Secretary of State may specify that payments of child support maintenance shall be made by the liable person—
(a)
(a) to the person caring for the child or children in question or, where an application has been made under section 7 of the Act, to the child who made the application;
(b)
(b) to, or through, the Secretary of State; or
(c)
(c) to, or through, such other person as the Secretary of State may, from time to time, specify.
(2) In paragraph (1) and in the rest of this Part, “liable person” means a person liable to make payments of child support maintenance.
Method of payment
3.—(1) Payments of child support maintenance shall be made by the liable person by whichever of the following methods the Secretary of State specifies as being appropriate in the circumstances—
(a)
(a) by standing order;
(b)
(b) by any other method which requires one person to give his authority for payments to be made from an account of his to an account of another’s on specific dates during the period for which the authority is in force and without the need for any further authority from him;
(c)
(c) by an arrangement whereby one person gives his authority for payments to be made from an account of his, or on his behalf, to another person or to an account of that other person;
(d)
(d) by cheque or postal order;
(e)
(e) in cash.
(2) The Secretary of State may direct a liable person to take all reasonable steps to open an account from which payments under the maintenance assessment may be made in accordance with the method of payment specified under paragraph (1).
Interval of payment
4.—(1) The Secretary of State shall specify the day and interval by reference to which payments of child support maintenance are to be made by the liable person and may from time to time vary such day or interval.
(2) In specifying the day and interval of payment the Secretary of State shall have regard to all the circumstances and in particular to—
(a)
(a) the needs of the person entitled to receive payment and the day and interval by reference to which any other income is normally received by that person;
(b)
(b) the day and interval by reference to which the liable person’s income is normally received; and
(c)
(c) any period necessary to enable the clearance of cheques or otherwise necessary to enable the transmission of payments to the person entitled to receive them.
Transmission of payments
5.—(1) Payments of child support maintenance made through the Secretary of State or other specified person shall be transmitted to the person entitled to receive them in whichever of the following ways the Secretary of State specifies as being appropriate in the circumstances—
(a)
(a) by a transfer of credit to an account nominated by the person entitled to receive the payments;
(b)
(b) by cheque, girocheque or other payable order;
(c)
(c) in cash.
(2) The Secretary of State shall specify the interval by reference to which the payments referred to in paragraph (1) are to be transmitted to the person entitled to receive them.
(3) The interval referred to in paragraph (2) may differ from the interval referred to in regulation 4 and may from time to time be varied by the Secretary of State.
(4) In specifying the interval for transmission of payments the Secretary of State shall have regard to all the circumstances and in particular to—
(a)
(a) the needs of the person entitled to receive payment and the interval by reference to which any other income is normally received by that person;
(b)
(b) any period necessary to enable the clearance of cheques or otherwise necessary to enable the transmission of payments to the person entitled to receive them.
Representations about payment arrangements
6. The Secretary of State shall, insofar as is reasonably practicable, provide the liable person and the person entitled to receive the payments of child support maintenance with an opportunity to make representations with regard to the matters referred to in regulations 2 to 5 and the Secretary of State shall have regard to those representations in exercising his powers under those regulations.
Notice to liable person as to requirements about payment
7.—(1) The Secretary of State shall send the liable person a notice stating—
(a)
(a) the amount of child support maintenance payable;
(b)
(b) to whom it is to be paid;
(c)
(c) the method of payment; and
(d)
(d) the day and interval by reference to which payments are to be made.
(2) A notice under paragraph (1) shall be sent to the liable person as soon as is reasonably practicable after—
(a)
(a) the making of a maintenance assessment, and
(b)
(b) after any change in the requirements referred to in any previous such notice.
PART III
DEDUCTION FROM EARNINGS ORDERS
Interpretation of this Part
8.—(1) For the purposes of this Part—
“disposable income” means the amount determined under regulation 12(1) of the Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations 19923;
“earnings” shall be construed in accordance with paragraphs (3) and (4);
“exempt income” means the amount determined under regulation 9 of the Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations 1992;
“net earnings” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph (5);
“normal deduction rate” means the rate specified in a deduction from earnings order (expressed as a sum of money per week, month or other period) at which deductions are to be made from the liable person’s net earnings;
“pay-day” in relation to a liable person means an occasion on which earnings are paid to him or the day on which such earnings would normally fall to be paid;
“prescribed minimum amount” means the minimum amount prescribed in regulation 13 of the Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations 1992;
“protected earnings rate” means the level of earnings specified in a deduction from earnings order (expressed as a sum of money per week, month or other period) below which deductions of child support maintenance shall not be made for the purposes of this Part;
“protected income level” means the level of protected income determined in accordance with regulation 11 of the Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations 1992.
(2) For the purposes of this Part the relationship of employer and employee shall be treated as subsisting between two persons if one of them, as a principal and not as a servant or agent, pays to the other any sum defined as earnings under paragraph (1) and “employment”, “employer” and “employee” shall be construed accordingly.
(3) Subject to paragraph (4), “earnings” are any sums payable to a person—
(a)
(a) by way of wages or salary (including any fees, bonus, commission, overtime pay or other emoluments payable in addition to wages or salary or payable under a contract of service);
(b)
(b) by way of pension (including an annuity in respect of past service, whether or not rendered to the person paying the annuity, and including periodical payments by way of compensation for the loss, abolition or relinquishment, or diminution in the emoluments, of any office or employment);
(c)
(c) by way of statutory sick pay.
(4) “Earnings” shall not include—
(a)
(a) sums payable by any public department of the Government of Northern Ireland or of a territory outside the United Kingdom;
(b)
(b) pay or allowances...
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