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Neutral Citation Number:
Reported Number:	R(CS)6/08
File Number:	CCS 2621 2006
Appellant:	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Boyle and another [2008] EWCA Civ 210
Respondent:
Judge/Commissioner:	Mr R.J.C. Angus
Date Of Decision:	31/01/2008
Date Added:	08/02/2008
Main Category:	Child support
Main Subcategory:	periods of assessment/calculation
Secondary Category:	Child support
Secondary Subcategory:	interim maintenance assessments/decisions
Notes:	Maintenance assessment – effective date of formula assessment made after interim assessment In September 1994 the mother applied for a child support maintenance assessment. In January 1995 the Child Support Agency on behalf of the Secretary of State sent the father a maintenance enquiry form, which he failed to return. The agency made an interim maintenance assessment, which was increased from 31 July 1995 by the imposition of a penalty for non-cooperation. In January 2000 a liability order was obtained against the father. The father returned the maintenance enquiry form to the agency in February 2000. In May 2005, the agency replaced the interim maintenance assessment with a full maintenance assessment at a lower rate with effect from 31 July 1995. The mother appealed and a tribunal allowed her appeal and ordered the Secretary of State to revert to the interim maintenance assessment for the period up to the receipt of the maintenance enquiry form, on the basis that regulation 8D(5) of the 1992 Regulations provided that an interim maintenance assessment could only be cancelled from the date the decision-maker received sufficient information to enable him to do so. The father appealed to the Commissioner, who upheld the decision of the tribunal. The Secretary of State appealed to the Court of Appeal. Held, allowing the appeal, that: 1. on the correct construction of regulations 8D and 30A of the Child Support (Maintenance Assessment Procedure) Regulations 1992, taken with regulation 17(3), if the Secretary of State has sufficient information to make a full maintenance assessment covering the entire period of an interim maintenance assessment from the first effective date, the Secretary of State is obliged to revise the assessment and to convert the interim maintenance assessment to a full maintenance assessment for the entire period. However, if the Secretary of State does not have sufficient information for the entire period, the interim maintenance assessment remains in force for the period up to the date when the information is provided but can be superseded from that date (CCS/2398/2006 approved) (paragraphs 21 to 29); 2. the obligation to revise exists notwithstanding the existence or enforcement of a liability order in respect of the interim maintenance assessment (Farley v Child Support Agency [2006] UKHL 31, [2006] 1 WLR 1817 cited) (paragraphs 30 to 35); 3. the appeal tribunal had erred in law in making an adverse finding of credibility against the father and it was open to the Secretary of State to make the full assessment on the basis of the evidence he had provided, including that which was undocumented (paragraphs 36 to 45).
Decision(s) to Download:	CCS 2621 2006-00.doc R(CS) 6-08 ws.doc