In DG v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and another [2023] UKUT 238 (AAC), the Upper Tribunal considered an appeal relating to an application for variation of a Child Maintenance calculation on the ground that the non-resident parent (the Father), had ‘unearned income’. This is defined under regulation 69 of the Child Support Maintenance Calculations Regulations 2012 as annual income of £2,500 or more chargeable to income tax as property income, savings and investment income, or miscellaneous income. This is not initially included in the maintenance calculation. The Father argued that under regulation 69, the figure provided by HMRC must be accepted as the amount for unearned income. The Upper Tribunal decided that the HMRC information is a starting point – however, if other evidence suggests this is incorrect, the Secretary of State can consider this to reach a different conclusion as to the amount of unearned income for calculation purposes.
The Government has already announced it will introduce new legislation to ensure unearned income is considered automatically when the maintenance calculation is made.
You can read the press release on GOV.UK.
The announcement also includes confirmation the Government will remove the £20 application fee to apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) in all cases – previously this exemption only applied to Domestic Abuse cases and those under 19 years old. On 13 November the draft Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears and Fees) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 were laid before Parliament and will remove CMS application fees from 26 February 2024.