# Child Support Act 1991, Section 28ZC: Restrictions on liability in certain cases of error

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) Subject to subsection (2), this section applies where—
(a) the effect of the determination, whenever made, of an appeal to the Upper Tribunal or the court (“the relevant determination”) is that the adjudicating authority’s decision out of which the appeal arose was erroneous in point of law; and
(b) after the date of the relevant determination a decision falls to be made by the Secretary of State in accordance with that determination (or would, apart from this section, fall to be so made)—
(i) with respect to an application for a maintenance calculation (made after the commencement date) ... ;
(ii) as to whether to revise, under section 16, any decision (made after the commencement date) referred to in section 16(1A); or
(iii) on an application under section 17 (made after the commencement date) for any decision (made after the commencement date) referred to in section 17(1).
(2) This section does not apply where the decision of the Secretary of State mentioned in subsection (1)(b)—
(a) is one which, but for section 28ZA(2)(a), would have been made before the date of the relevant determination; or
(b) is one made in pursuance of section 28ZB(3) or (5).
(3) In so far as the decision relates to a person’s liability ... in respect of a period before the date of the relevant determination, it shall be made as if the adjudicating authority’s decision had been found by the Upper Tribunal or court not to have been erroneous in point of law.
(4) Subsection (1)(a) shall be read as including a case where—
(a) the effect of the relevant determination is that part or all of a purported regulation or order is invalid; and
(b) the error of law made by the adjudicating authority was to act on the basis that the purported regulation or order (or the part held to be invalid) was valid.
(5) It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1)—
(a) where such a decision as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(i) falls to be made; or
(b) where such a decision as is mentioned in paragraph (b)(ii) or (iii) falls to be made on an application under section 16 or (as the case may be) section 17,
whether the application was made before or after the date of the relevant determination.
(6) In this section—
“adjudicating authority” means the Secretary of State, or a child support officer or, in the case of a decision made on a referral under section 28D(1)(b), the First-tier Tribunal;
“the commencement date” means the date of the coming into force of section 44 of the Social Security Act 1998; and
“the court” means the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the Court of Session, the High Court or Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland, the Supreme Court or the Court of Justice of the European Community.
(7) The date of the relevant determination shall, in prescribed cases, be determined for the purposes of this section in accordance with any regulations made for that purpose.
(8) Regulations made under subsection (7) may include provision—
(a) for a determination of a higher court to be treated as if it had been made on the date of a determination of a lower court or the Upper Tribunal; or
(b) for a determination of a lower court or the Upper Tribunal to be treated as if it had been made on the date of a determination of a higher court.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/48/section/28ZC (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-act-1991/section-28ZC
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.