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The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2018

My honourable Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Family Support, Housing & Child Maintenance (Justin Tomlinson MP) has made the following Written Statement.

On 12 July 2018, I made a statement to the House about laying the Child Support regulations on 12 July 2018.

I wish to give notice that I intend to re-lay these regulations to clarify some minor points in regulation 2.

These are that:

• The non-resident parent (NRP) can be either the sole, or one of a number of beneficiaries to an asset for the purpose of assuming a notional income from it.

• The Secretary of State would make the decision as to whether the sale of an asset would be unreasonable or may cause hardship to the child of a NRP.

• A minor amendment to the definition of virtual currency; and

• The definition of asset will now include assets owned jointly by, or held in the joint names of, the non-resident parent and another individual or individuals. This is to ensure that a provision which was intended to offer protection to third parties cannot be exploited by an NRP by transferring assets into joint names.

The regulations are subject to the affirmative procedure and I look forward to discussing them with colleagues in due course.