Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Bill
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A
B I L L
[AS AMENDED IN STANDING COMMITTEE F]
TO
Amend the law relating to child support; to amend the law relating to occupational and personal pensions and war pensions; to amend the law relating to social security benefits and social security administration; to amend the law relating to national insurance contributions; to amend Part III of the Family Law Reform Act 1969 and Part III of the Family Law Act 1986; and for connected purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:- |
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PART I |
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CHILD SUPPORT |
| Maintenance calculations and interim and default maintenance decisions |
Maintenance calculations and terminology. |
1. - (1) In the Child Support Act 1991 ("the 1991 Act"), for section 11 (maintenance assessments) there shall be substituted- |
Maintenance calculations. |
11. - (1) An application for a maintenance calculation made to the Secretary of State shall be dealt with by him in accordance with the provision made by or under this Act. |
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(2) The Secretary of State shall (unless he decides not to make a maintenance calculation in response to the application, or makes a decision under section 12) determine the application by making a decision under this section about whether any child support maintenance is payable and, if so, how much. |
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(3) Where- |
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(a) a parent is treated under section 6(3) as having applied for a maintenance calculation; but |
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(b) the Secretary of State becomes aware before determining the application that the parent has ceased to fall within section 6(1), |
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he shall, subject to subsection (4), cease to treat that parent as having applied for a maintenance calculation. |
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(4) If it appears to the Secretary of State that subsection (10) of section 4 would not have prevented the parent with care concerned from making an application for a maintenance calculation under that section he shall- |
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(a) notify her of the effect of this subsection; and |
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(b) if, before the end of the period of one month beginning with the day on which notice was sent to her, she asks him to do so, treat her as having applied not under section 6 but under section 4. |
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(5) Where subsection (3) applies but subsection (4) does not, the Secretary of State shall notify- |
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(a) the parent with care concerned; and |
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(b) the non-resident parent (or alleged non-resident parent), where it appears to him that that person is aware that the parent with care has been treated as having applied for a maintenance calculation. |
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(6) The amount of child support maintenance to be fixed by a maintenance calculation shall be determined in accordance with Part I of Schedule 1 unless an application for a variation has been made and agreed. |
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(7) If the Secretary of State has agreed to a variation, the amount of child support maintenance to be fixed shall be determined on the basis he determines under section 28F(4). |
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(8) Part II of Schedule 1 makes further provision with respect to maintenance calculations. |
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(2) In the 1991 Act- |
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(a) for "maintenance assessment", wherever it occurs, there shall be substituted "maintenance calculation"; |
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(b) for "interim maintenance assessment", wherever it occurs, there shall be substituted "default or interim maintenance decision"; |
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(c) for "assessment" (or any variant of that term), wherever it occurs in connection with an interim assessment of maintenance, there shall be substituted "decision" (or the corresponding variant) preceded, where appropriate, by "a" instead of "an"; and |
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(d) for "assessment" (or any variant of that term), wherever it occurs in connection with any other assessment of maintenance, there shall be substituted "calculation" (or the corresponding variant) preceded, where appropriate, by "a" instead of "an". |
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(3) For Part I of Schedule 1 to the 1991 Act, there shall be substituted the Part I set out in Schedule 1 to this Act. |
Applications under section 4 of the Child Support Act 1991. |
2. - (1) In section 4 of the 1991 Act (child support maintenance), subsection (10) shall be amended as follows. |
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(2) In paragraph (a), after "maintenance order" there shall be inserted "made before a prescribed date". |
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(3) After paragraph (a), there shall be inserted- |
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(aa) a maintenance order made on or after the date prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) is in force in respect of them, but has been so for less than the period of one year beginning with the date on which it was made; or. |
Applications by persons claiming or receiving benefit. |
3. For section 6 of the 1991 Act (applications by those receiving benefit), there shall be substituted- |