{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-act-1991/section-26",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-act-1991/section-26.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1991/48",
  "legislation_title": "Child Support Act 1991",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-act-1991",
  "path": "section/26",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "26",
  "heading": "Disputes about parentage.",
  "text": "(1) Where a person who is alleged to be a parent of the child with respect to whom an application for a maintenance calculation has been made ... (“the alleged parent”) denies that he is one of the child’s parents, the Secretary of State shall not make a maintenance calculation on the assumption that the alleged parent is one of the child’s parents unless the case falls within one of those set out in subsection (2).\n(2) The Cases are —\nCase A1\nWhere—\n(a)the child is habitually resident in England and Wales;\n(b) the Secretary of State is satisfied that the alleged parent is a man who was married to, or the civil partner of, the child’s mother at some time in the period beginning with the conception and ending with the birth of the child; and\n(c)the child has not been adopted.\nCase A2\nWhere—\n(a)the child is habitually resident in England and Wales;\n(b)the alleged parent has been registered as father of the child under section 10 or 10A of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, or in any register kept under section 13 (register of births and still-births) or section 44 (Register of Corrections Etc) of the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1965, or under Article 14 or 18(1)(b)(ii) of the Births and Deaths Registration (Northern Ireland) Order 1976; and\n(c)the child has not subsequently been adopted.\nCase A3\nWhere the result of a scientific test (within the meaning of section 27A) taken by the alleged parent would be relevant to determining the child’s parentage, and the alleged parent—\n(a)refuses to take such a test; or\n(b)has submitted to such a test, and it shows that there is no reasonable doubt that the alleged parent is a parent of the child.\nCase A\nWhere the alleged parent is a parent of the child in question by virtue of having adopted him.\nCase B\nWhere the alleged parent is a parent of the child in question by virtue of an order under section 30 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 or section 54 or 54A of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (parental orders).\nCase B1\nWhere the Secretary of State is satisfied that the alleged parent is a parent of the child in question by virtue of section 27 or 28 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 or any of sections 33 to 46 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (which relate to children resulting from assisted reproduction).\nCase C\nWhere—\n(a)either—\n(i)a declaration that the alleged parent is a parent of the child in question (or a declaration which has that effect) is in force under section 55A or 56 of the Family Law Act 1986 or Article 32 of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (declarations of parentage); or\n(ii)a declarator by a court in Scotland that the alleged parent is a parent of the child in question (or a declarator which has that effect) is in force; and\n(b)the child has not subsequently been adopted.\nCase D\n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\nCase E\nWhere—\n(a)the child is habitually resident in Scotland;\n(b) the Secretary of State is satisfied that one or other of the presumptions set out in section 5(1) of the Law Reform (Parent and Child) (Scotland) Act 1986 applies; and\n(c)the child has not subsequently been adopted.\nCase F\nWhere—\n(a)the alleged parent has been found, or adjudged, to be the father of the child in question—\n(i)in proceedings before any court in England and Wales which are relevant proceedings for the purposes of section 12 of the Civil Evidence Act 1968 or in proceedings before any court in Northern Ireland which are relevant proceedings for the purposes of section 8 of the Civil Evidence Act (Northern Ireland) 1971; or\n(ii)in affiliation proceedings before any court in the United Kingdom,\n(whether or not he offered any defence to the allegation of paternity) and that finding or adjudication still subsists; and\n(b)the child has not subsequently been adopted.\n(3) In this section—\n“adopted” means adopted within the meaning of Part IV of the Adoption Act 1976 or Chapter 4 of Part 1 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 or, in relation to Scotland, Part IV of the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 or Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 4); and\n“affiliation proceedings”, in relation to Scotland, means any action of affiliation and aliment.",
  "extent": "E+W+S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in Act substituted (3.3.2003 for specified purposes) by Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (c. 19), ss. 1(2)(a), 86(1)(a)(2) (with ss. 28, 83(6)); S.I. 2003/192, art. 3, Sch."
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(1) repealed (27.10.2008) by Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 (c. 6), s. 62(3), Sch. 8; S.I. 2008/2548, art. 3(d)(i)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(1) substituted (1.6.1999) by Social Security Act 1998 (c. 14), s. 87(2), Sch. 7 para. 31(1); S.I. 1999/1510, art. 2(g)(iii)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(1)(2) substituted (1.8.2012) by The Public Bodies (Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission: Abolition and Transfer of Functions) Order 2012 (S.I. 2012/2007), art. 1(2), Sch. para. 16"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) inserted (31.1.2001) by Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (c. 19), ss. 15(1), 86(1)(a)(2) (with ss. 28, 83(6)); S.I. 2000/3354, art. 2(1)(a)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) substituted (2.12.2019) by The Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/1458), reg. 1(2), Sch. 3 para. 13(2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) substituted (6.4.2009 for specified purposes, 6.4.2010 in so far as not already in force) by Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (c. 22), s. 68(2), Sch. 6 para. 36; S.I. 2009/479, art. 6(1)(d) (with art. 7, Sch.); S.I. 2010/987, art. 2(g)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) inserted (3.1.2019) by The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 (Remedial) Order 2018 (S.I. 2018/1413), art. 1(1), Sch. 1 para. 5"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) inserted (1.4.2001) by Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (c. 19), s. 86(1)(d)(2), Sch. 8 para. 12 (with s. 83(6)); S.I. 2001/774, art. 2"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F10",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) inserted (4.11.1996) by The Children (Northern Ireland Consequential Amendments) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/756), arts. 1(2), 13(a) (with art. 16); S.R. 1996/297, art. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F11",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) repealed (1.4.2001) by Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000 (c. 19), s. 86(1)(e)(2), Sch. 9 Pt. IX (with s. 83(6)); S.I. 2001/774, art. 2(d)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F12",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) substituted (1.6.1999) by Social Security Act 1998 (c. 14), s. 87(2), Sch. 7 para. 31(2); S.I. 1999/1510, art. 2(g)(iii)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F13",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(2) inserted (4.11.1996) by The Children (Northern Ireland Consequential Amendments) Order 1995 (S.I. 1995/756), arts. 1(2), 13(b) (with art. 16); S.R. 1996/297, art. 3"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F14",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(3) inserted (30.12.2005) by Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c. 38), s. 148(1), Sch. 3 para. 81 (with Sch. 4 paras. 6-8); S.I. 2005/2213, art. 2(o) (as amended (15.10.2005) by S.I. 2005/2897, art. 14(3))"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F15",
      "text": "Words in s. 26(3) inserted (S.) (28.9.2009) by Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (asp 4), s. 121(2), Sch. 2 para. 7; S.S.I. 2009/267, arts. 1(2), 2 (with arts. 3-21) (as amended (7.5.2012) by S.S.I. 2012/99, art. 2)"
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1986 c. 55."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M2",
      "text": "1986 c. 9."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M3",
      "text": "1968 c. 64."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M4",
      "text": "1976 c. 36."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M5",
      "text": "1978 c. 28."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "words inserted",
      "affecting": "ukpga/2009/24",
      "affecting_title": "Welfare Reform Act 2009"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/48/section/26",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:37:00.270775+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}