# Child Support Act 1991, Section 41B: Repayment of overpaid child support maintenance.

Extent: E+W+S

(1) This section applies where it appears to the Secretary of State that a non-resident parent has made a payment by way of child support maintenance which amounts to an overpayment by him of that maintenance and that—
(a) it would not be possible for the non-resident parent to recover the amount of the overpayment by way of an adjustment of the amount payable under a maintenance calculation; or
(b) it would be inappropriate to rely on an adjustment of the amount payable under a maintenance calculation as the means of enabling the non-resident parent to recover the amount of the overpayment.
(1A) This section also applies where the non-resident parent has made a voluntary payment and it appears to the Secretary of State—
(a) that he is not liable to pay child support maintenance; or
(b) that he is liable, but some or all of the payment amounts to an overpayment,
and, in a case falling within paragraph (b), it also appears to the Secretary of State that subsection (1)(a) or (b) applies.
(2) The Secretary of State may make such payment to the non-resident parent by way of reimbursement, or partial reimbursement, of the overpayment as the Secretary of State considers appropriate.
(3) Where the Secretary of State has made a payment under this section the Secretary of State may, in such circumstances as may be prescribed, require the relevant person to pay to the Secretary of State the whole, or a specified proportion, of the amount of that payment.
(4) Any such requirement shall be imposed by giving the relevant person a written demand for the amount which the Secretary of State wishes to recover from him.
(5) Any sum which a person is required to pay to the Secretary of State under this section shall be recoverable from him by the Secretary of State as a debt due to the Crown.
(6) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision in relation to any case in which—
(a) one or more overpayments of child support maintenance are being reimbursed to the Secretary of State by the relevant person; and
(b) child support maintenance has continued to be payable by the non-resident parent concerned to the person with care concerned, or again becomes so payable.
(7) For the purposes of this section—
(a) a payment made by a person under a maintenance calculation which was not validly made; and
(b) a voluntary payment made in the circumstances set out in subsection (1A)(a),
shall be treated as an overpayment of child support maintenance made by a non-resident parent.
(8) In this section “relevant person”, in relation to an overpayment, means the person with care to whom the overpayment was made.
(9) Any sum recovered by the Secretary of State under this section shall be paid by the Secretary of State into the Consolidated Fund.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/48/section/41B (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-act-1991/section-41B
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.