UK Offence Report

Amendments of the Child Support Act 1991

regulation 11 of The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

11 In section 15—

a after subsection (4) insert— 4ZA But the power under subsection (4) to enter any premises is exercisable only under the authority of

a warrant issued under section 15A if—

a the premises are occupied, and

b an inspector has applied for admission to the premises for the purposes of exercising the power under that subsection but admission has been refused. ;

b in subsection (9), at the beginning, insert “Subject to subsection (9A),”;

c after subsection (9) insert— 9A A person is guilty of an offence under subsection (9)(a) as

a result of intentionally delaying or obstructing an inspector’s entry to premises that are occupied only if, at the time of the delay or obstruction, entry to the premises is authorised by

a warrant issued under section 15A.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
obstructing an official exercising a power
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (intentionally).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: intentionally.

What would breach regulation 11?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Refusing to let an inspector onto premises they are entitled to enter under the Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.
  2. Sending an official away, or telling staff to say nothing, where the power being exercised does not depend on anyone's consent.
  3. Physically blocking an examination, or removing something an officer has said they intend to inspect.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
3 July 2019
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make miscellaneous amendments relating to child support maintenance (“maintenance”). Part 2 makes provision about the recovery of maintenance arrears by deduction from benefits which are payable to a non-resident parent. Regulations 3 to 5 amend the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations 1987 (S.I. 1987/1968) to change the circumstances in which deductions from benefits may be made. Regulations 6 to 8 amend the Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/380) to allow for such arrears to be recoverable from universal credit and for maintenance to be deducted from universal credit where there are earnings. The amount which may be deducted from benefits is, in both cases, increased from £1.20 per week to £8.40 per week. In both cases no deductions from benefits for recovery of maintenance arrears may be made if the non-resident parent in receipt of benefits is liable to pay maintenance. Part 3 (regulation 8) amends the Child Support (Management of Payments and Arrears) Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/3151) to allow arrears of child support maintenance to be written off where the non-resident parent’s estate was subject to a protected trust deed (within the meaning of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 (asp 21)) but that deed has expired. Part 4 relates to powers of entry and to obtain information. Regulations 10 to 12 amend the Child Support Act 1991 (c.48) to create a procedure whereby inspectors can apply to the appropriate court in England and Wales and in Scotland to obtain a warrant for entry to premises in order to carry out their functions under that Act. Regulation 13 amends the Child Support Information Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/2551) to require a qualifying lender (within the meaning given in section 19(7) of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 (c.7)) and a trustee or manager of an occupational pension scheme (within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 (c.48)) to provide information to the Secretary of State in connection with the Secretary of State’s functions under the Child Support Act 1991. Part 5 (regulation 14) amends the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2677) so that in relation to the calculation of gross weekly income of a non-resident parent, the figure notified as employment income by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is no longer to be that taken before any allowable deductions from earnings. Part 6 (regulation 15) amends the Child Support Fees Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/612) to clarify when there are considered to be arrangements for collection of the maintenance for the purposes of the payability of the collection fee to the Secretary of State. An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source