{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-departure-direction-and-consequential-amendments-regulations-1996/regulation-4",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-departure-direction-and-consequential-amendments-regulations-1996/regulation-4.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1996/2907",
  "legislation_title": "The Child Support Departure Direction and Consequential Amendments Regulations 1996",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/child-support-departure-direction-and-consequential-amendments-regulations-1996",
  "path": "regulation/4",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "4",
  "heading": "Application for a departure direction",
  "text": "(1) Every application shall be made in writing on a form (a “departure direction application form\") provided by the Secretary of State, or in such other manner, being in writing, as the Secretary of State may accept as sufficient in the circumstances of any particular case.\n(2) Departure direction application forms shall be supplied without charge by such persons as the Secretary of State authorises for that purpose.\n(3) Every application shall be given or sent to the Secretary of State or to such persons as he may authorise for that purpose.\n(4) Where an application is defective at the date when it is received, or has been made in writing but not on the departure direction application form provided by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State may refer that application to the person who made it or, as the case may be, supply him with a departure direction application form.\n(5) In a case to which paragraph (4) applies, if the departure direction application form is received by the Secretary of State properly completed—\n(a) within the specified period, he shall treat the application as if it had been duly made in the first instance;\n(b) outside the specified period, unless he is satisfied that the delay has been unavoidable, he shall treat the application as a fresh application made on the date upon which the properly completed departure direction application form was received.\n(6) An application which is made on a departure direction application form is, for the purposes of paragraph (5), properly completed if completed in accordance with the instructions on the form and defective if not so completed.\n(7) In a case to which paragraph (4) applies, the specified period for the purposes of paragraph (5) shall be the period of 14 days commencing with the date upon which, in accordance with paragraph (4), the application is referred to the person who made the defective application or a departure direction application form is given or sent to the person who made a written application but not on a departure direction application form.\n(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7), the provisions of regulation 2 shall apply to an application referred to in paragraph (4).\n(9) A person applying for a departure direction may authorise a representative, whether or not legally qualified, to receive notices and other documents on his behalf, and to act on his behalf in relation to an application.\n(10) Where a person has, under paragraph (9), authorised a representative who is not legally qualified, he shall confirm that authorisation in writing, or as otherwise required, to the Secretary of State, unless such authorisation has already been approved by the Secretary of State under regulation 53 of the Maintenance Assessment Procedure Regulations (authorisation of representative).\n(11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .\n(14) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .",
  "extent": "E+W+S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Instrument Regulations revoked (coming into force in accordance with reg. 1(4) of the amending S.I.) by The Child Support (Meaning of Child and New Calculation Rules) (Consequential and Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2785), reg. 10(d)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Reg. 4(11)-(14) omitted (1.6.1999) by virtue of The Child Support (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 2) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/1047), regs. 1(1), 35"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/2907/regulation/4",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T12:32:00.148055+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."
}