Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2016 to Question 38312, if he will provide details of the relevant legislative criteria for payment of child maintenance to carers of children looked after under a special guardianship order.

The relevant legislative criteria to be a person with care are in Section 3(3) of the Child Support Act 1991, which states:

S3. Child Support Act 1991

(3) A person is a “person with care”, in relation to any child, if he is a person–

(a) with whom the child has his home;

(b) who usually provides day to day care for the child (whether exclusively or in conjunction with any other person); and

(c) who does not fall within a prescribed category of person.

There are no provisions prohibiting a Special Guardian from being a person with care in any supporting secondary Child Support legislation (in other words, they do not “fall within a prescribed category of person”).