Termination of Consent Order.

Apologies in advance for reviving an 18 month old thread, however I am struggling with the exact same question.

The only "authoritative" source I could find is UK legislation. The "Education Act 1996", Part I, section 2: "Definition of primary, secondary and further education". Reading that suggests to me that secondary education stops when a child moves to a Further Education College, whether that be for A-Levels, a BTEC or anything else.

I think another issue that muddies the waters is that for some courses being considered as a full time course they only need to do 16 hours a week to be considered on a full time course which may amount to only two days attending college...

The family courts aren''t tied to education legislation, although it could be used to argue a case. If there is a dispute ultimately it is a judge who decides.

In the UK further education colleges provide secondary education as well as tertiary or higher education. For example some schools do not have six forms and children go to a further education colleges to complete their secondary education. HNCs and HNDs are higher education and universities will sometimes accept students with HNDs into second or third year.

@Fiona: I realise a definition in an Act does not automatically apply to a Court Order. But as you say, it could be used to argue my case.

So, just to explore a little further:

The "Education Act 1996" lists mutually exclusive definitions for primary, secondary and further education.
According to section (2)(a) secondary education means "[...] education suitable to the requirements of pupils of compulsory school age [...]" and adds in section (2)(b) "education suitable to the requirements of pupils who are over compulsory school age but under the age of 19 which is provided at a school at which education within paragraph (a) is also provided". In other words: an A-level course given at a sixth form attached to a secondary school is secondary education, but a BTEC at a College would be further education.

I wish it stopped there, but unfortunately, section (2A) then muddies the waters with: "Education is also secondary education [...] if it is provided by an institution which [...] is principally concerned with the provision of full-time education suitable to the requirements of pupils who are over compulsory school age but under the age of 19."

So the BTEC I mention, that is taken at a college could be secondary education depending on whether or not the college also provides higher education and to what extent the mix of further/higher is at that college.

What I find even more confusing is that many people often refer to 3 levels of education: primary, secondary and tertiary. Yet UK legislation breaks it up as primary, secondary, further and higher education. I guess the former is "speaking language" and may have not caught up with legislation? I probably have not been in this country long enough to answer that one as I arrived here after 1997!

Usually there is no point in worrying about it and a payer might as well keep paying child maintenance. IF a consent order is no longer in effect the CSA/Child Maintenance Service would have jurisdiction for child maintenance so there would still be a liability to pay child maintenance anyway.

As above, under the CSA/CMS rules child maintenance ceases at the end of full time non advanced education (i.e. A Level Standard or less) and may be payable until the child is 20 if they are continuing a course. The HMRC website lists the types of courses which are considered non advanced in the Child Benefit section.