(1)    In the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987—

(a)    at the end of the definition of “child support maintenance” in regulation 60A (child support: interpretation) there shall be added the words “and shall include any payments made by the Secretary of State in lieu of such payments”; and

(b)    at the end of Schedule 9 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings) there shall be added the following paragraph—

(1)    Subject to sub-paragraph (3), any payment of child maintenance, whether under a court order or not, which is made or due to be made by the parent of a child or young person where that child or young person is a member of the claimant's family except where that parent is the claimant or the claimant's partner.

(2)    For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), where more than one payment of child maintenance falls to be taken into account in any week, all such payments shall be aggregated and treated as if they were a single payment.

(3)    No more than £10 shall be disregarded in any week pursuant to this paragraph.

(4)    In this paragraph, “child maintenance” shall have the same meaning as that prescribed for the purposes of section 74A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and shall include any payment made by the Secretary of State in lieu of such maintenance.”.

(2)    In the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996—

(a)    at the end of the definition of “child support maintenance” in regulation 125 (child support: interpretation) there shall be added the words “and shall include any payments made by the Secretary of State in lieu of such payments”; and

(b)    at the end of Schedule 7 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings) there shall be added the following paragraph—

(1)    Subject to sub-paragraph (3), any payment of child maintenance, whether under a court order or not, which is made or due to be made by the parent of a child or young person where that child or young person is a member of the claimant's family except where that parent is the claimant or the claimant's partner.

(2)    For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), where more than one payment of child maintenance falls to be taken into account in any week, all such payments shall be aggregated and treated as if they were a single payment.

(3)    No more than £10 shall be disregarded in any week pursuant to this paragraph.

(4)    In this paragraph, “child maintenance” shall have the same meaning as that prescribed for the purposes of section 74A of the Administration Act and shall include any payment made by the Secretary of State in lieu of such maintenance.”.

At the end of both paragraph 46 of Schedule 4 to the Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992 and paragraph 47 of Schedule 4 to the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 (sums to be disregarded in the calculation of income other than earnings), there shall be added the following sub-paragraph—

“(3)    A payment made by the Secretary of State in lieu of maintenance shall, for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1), be treated as a payment of maintenance made by a person specified in paragraph (a) or (b) of that sub-paragraph.”.

(1)    Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4) below—

(a)    regulations 2 to 13 of the Social Security (Child Maintenance Bonus) Regulations 1996 (“the Child Maintenance Bonus Regulations”);

(b)    the Child Maintenance Bonus (Northern Ireland Reciprocal Arrangements) Regulations 1997 (“the Reciprocal Arrangements Regulations”);

(c)    regulation 8 of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1997; and

(d)    regulation 2 of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1998,

are hereby revoked.

(2)    Subject to paragraph (3) below, regulations 2 to 13 of the Child Maintenance Bonus Regulations and the Reciprocal Arrangements Regulations shall continue to have effect as if paragraph (1) above had not been made in relation to a person who—

(a)    claimed a child maintenance bonus before the commencement date but whose claim was not determined until on or after that date; or

(b)    claims a child maintenance bonus on or after the commencement date but within the time specified in regulations 3(1)(f), 10(1) and, where applicable, 11(4) of the Child Maintenance Bonus Regulations.

(3)    For the purposes of paragraph (2) above, regulation 3(1)(f)(iii) of the Child Maintenance Bonus Regulations shall have effect as if for the words “14 days” there were substituted the words “one month”.

(4)    Nothing in this regulation shall prevent the Secretary of State from issuing a written statement pursuant to regulation 6(1) of the Child Maintenance Bonus Regulations to a person who appears to him to satisfy the requirements of regulation 3 of those Regulations.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Social Security

P Hollis,

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,

Department of Social Security

30th November 2000

These Regulations come into force at different times for different cases according to the dates on which section 23 of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (c 19) which is relevant to these Regulations, is commenced for different types of cases.

Regulations 2 and 3 of these Regulations amend the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987/1967), the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/207), the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 (SI 1987/1971) and the Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/1814).

In particular, regulation 2(1)(b) and (2)(b) of these Regulations provides that for the purpose of ascertaining entitlement to income support and jobseeker's allowance, up to £10 of a payment of child maintenance shall be disregarded. That disregarded amount is known as the child maintenance premium. Child maintenance is defined for these purposes as a payment prescribed for the purposes of section 74A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c 5) and payments by the Secretary of State in lieu of such maintenance.

Regulation 2(1)(a) and (2)(a) provides that for the purpose of calculating the weekly amount of child support maintenance, payments by the Secretary of State in lieu of periodical payments of child support maintenance shall be treated as payments of child support maintenance.

Regulation 3 provides that payments by the Secretary of State in lieu of child maintenance shall, for the purpose of ascertaining entitlement to housing benefit and council tax benefit, be treated as if they were payments of maintenance paid by a former partner of the claimant or his partner or by a parent of a child or young person.

Regulation 4 revokes, with transitional provisions, regulations 2 to 13 of the Social Security (Child Maintenance Bonus) Regulations 1996 (SI 1996/3195), the Child Maintenance Bonus (Northern Ireland Reciprocal Arrangements) Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/645), regulation 8 of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/454) and regulation 2 of the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 1998 (SI 1998/563).

These Regulations do not impose a charge on business.