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06 March 2008 / David Burrows
Issue: 7311 / Categories: Features , Public , Legal services , Family
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Public v family

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Child support is a family, not an administrative, matter says David Burrows (from the barricades)

A strange and uncomfortable cohabitation exists between family (private), and administrative (public), lawyers over interpretations of the Child Support Act 1991 (CSA 1991) and in representation of parents and the secretary of state for work and pensions in child support proceedings. Is the law of child support maintenance more akin to family law; or is it more aptly the province of the administrative lawyer? You might think the name was a giveaway: finance for children surely implies family law? I doubt the lawyers who represent the secretary of state for work and pensions (who act in these cases) would agree.

My last case on child support (in early February) was an application for a declaration for two parents who said that certain aspects of the scheme had denied them the right to a fair—or indeed any—trial of issues relating to two assessments to child support maintenance many years ago. They were long out of time, probably, for judicial review; but for reasons particular to each case had

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