Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975
Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 1975
1975 CHAPTER 15
An Act to consolidate for Northern Ireland so much of the Social Security Act 1973 as establishes a basic scheme of contributions and benefits, together with the National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Measures (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1974 and other enactments relating to social security.
[20th March 1975]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Contributions
Preliminary
1 Outline of contributory system.
(1) The funds required—
(a ) for paying such benefits under Part II below as are payable out of the National Insurance Fund and not out of other public money;
(b ) for the making of payments under section 128 below towards the cost of the health service and into the Redundancy Fund; and
(c ) for paying benefit under the Old Cases Act,
shall be provided by means of contributions payable to the Department by earners, employers and others, together with the supplements specified in subsection (5) below.
(2) Contributions under this Part of this Act shall be of the following four classes—
Class 1, earnings-related, payable under section 4, being—
(a ) primary Class 1 contributions from employed earners, and
(b ) secondary Class 1 contributions from employers and other persons paying earnings;
Class 2, flat-rate, payable weekly under section 7 by self-employed earners;
Class 3, payable under section 8 by earners and others voluntarily with a view to providing entitlement to benefit, or making up entitlement; and
Class 4, payable under section 9 in respect of the profits or gains of a trade, profession or vocation, or under section 10 in respect of equivalent earnings.
(3) The amounts and rates of contributions in this Part and the other figures therein which affect the liability of contributors shall—
(a ) be subject to regulations under sections 123 to 126 below (H.M. forces, mariners, married women, widows and others); and
(b ) to the extent provided for by section 120 (re-rating), be subject to alteration by orders made under that section.
(4) Schedule 1 to this Act—
(a ) shall have effect with respect to the computation, collection and recovery of contributions of Classes 1, 2 and 3, and otherwise with respect to contributions of those classes; and
(b ) shall also, to the extent provided by regulations made under section 10, have effect with respect to the computation, collection and recovery of Class 4 contributions, and otherwise with respect to such contributions, where under that section provision is made for contributions of that class to be recovered by the Department and not by the Inland Revenue under section 9(3) and (4) of the Social Security Act 1975 .
(5) Subject to section 124 below (mariners, airmen, etc), there shall by way of supplement to contributions be paid out of money hereafter appropriated for that purpose, in such manner and at such times as the Department of Finance may determine, amounts the total of which for any year is equal to 18 per cent. of so much of all contributions (of the four classes) paid in that year as remains after deducting the appropriate health service allocation and the appropriate allocation to the Redundancy Fund.
(6) No person shall—
(a ) be liable to pay Class 1 or Class 2 contributions unless he fulfils prescribed conditions as to residence or presence in Northern Ireland;
(b ) be entitled to pay Class 3 contributions unless he fulfils such conditions; or
(c ) be entitled to pay Class 1 or Class 2 contributions other than those which he is liable to pay, except so far as he is permitted by regulations to pay them.
2 Categories of earners.
(1) In this Act—
(a ) ‘employed earner’ means a person who is gainfully employed in Northern Ireland either under a contract of service, or in an office (including elective office) with emoluments chargeable to income tax under Schedule E; and
(b ) ‘self-employed earner’ means a person who is gainfully employed in Northern Ireland otherwise than in employed earner's employment (whether or not he is also employed in such employment).
(2) Regulations may provide—
(a ) for employment of any prescribed description to be disregarded in relation to liability for contributions otherwise arising from employment of that description;
(b ) for a person in employment of any prescribed description to be treated, for the purposes of this Act, as falling within one or other of the categories of earner defined in subsection (1) above, notwithstanding that he would not fall within that category apart from the regulations.
(3) Where a person is to be treated by reference to any employment of his as an employed earner, then he is to be so treated for all purposes of this Act; and references throughout this Act to employed earner's employment shall be construed accordingly.
(4) Subsections (1) to (3) above are subject to the provision made by section 51 of this Act as to the employments which are to be treated, for the purposes of industrial injuries benefit, as employed earner's employments.
(5) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be treated as a self-employed earner as respects any week during any part of which he is such an earner (without prejudice to his being also treated as an employed earner as respects that week by reference to any other employment of his).
3 ‘Earnings’.
(1) In this Act ‘earnings’ includes any remuneration or profit derived from an employment; and ‘earner’ shall be construed accordingly.
(2) For the purposes of this Act, the amount of a person's earnings for any period, or the amount of his earnings to be treated as comprised in any payment made to him or for his benefit, shall be calculated or estimated in such manner and on such basis as may be prescribed.
(3) Regulations made for the purposes of subsection (2) above may prescribe that payments of a particular class or description made or falling to be made to or by a person shall, to such extent as may be prescribed, be disregarded or, as the case may be, be deducted from the amount of that person's earnings.
The four classes of contributions
4 Class 1 contributions \(incidence).
(1) For the purposes of this Act, there shall for every tax year be—
(a ) a lower earnings limit for Class 1 contributions, being the level of weekly earnings at which employed earners become liable for such contributions in respect of the earnings from their employments; and
(b ) an upper earnings limit for Class 1 contributions, being the maximum amount of weekly earnings in respect of which such contributions are payable;
and the lower and upper earnings limits shall be respectively 11 and 69.
(2) Subject to section 6 below, where in any tax week earnings are paid to or for the benefit of an earner in respect of any one employment of his, being employed earner's employment, and—
(a ) he is over school-leaving age; and
(b ) the amount paid is equal to or exceeds the current lower earnings limit (or the prescribed equivalent in the case of earners paid otherwise than weekly),
there shall be payable, in accordance with this section (and, except as provided by this Act, without regard to any other payment of earnings to or for the benefit of the earner in respect of any other employment), a primary and a secondary Class 1 contribution.
(3) The primary contribution shall be payable by the earner and the secondary contribution shall be payable by the secondary Class 1 contributor.
(4) Subject to subsection (5) below, the secondary contributor, in relation to any payment of earnings to or for the benefit of an employed earner, is—
(a ) in the case of an earner employed under a contract of service, his employer;
(b ) in the case of an earner employed in an office with emoluments, either—
(i) such person as may be prescribed in relation to that office, or
(ii) if no person is prescribed, the government department, public authority or body of persons responsible for paying the emoluments of the office.
(5) In relation to employed earners who—
(a ) are paid earnings in a tax week by more than one person in respect of different employments; or
(b ) work under the general control or management of a person other than their immediate employer,
and in relation to any other case for which it appears to the Department that such provision is needed, regulations may provide that for the purposes of this section the prescribed person is to be treated as the secondary Class 1 contributor in respect of earnings paid to or for the benefit of an earner.
(6) The amount of a Class 1 contribution shall be a percentage of so much of the earnings paid in the week, in respect of the employment in question, as does not exceed the current upper earnings limit (or the prescribed equivalent in the case of earners paid otherwise than weekly); and, subject to regulations under sections 123 to 126 below—
(a ) the primary contribution shall be 5.5 per cent. or 2 per cent., according to whether the earner is liable to contribute at the standard rate or the reduced rate; and
(b ) the secondary contribution shall be 8.5 per cent.
5 Class 1 standard and reduced rates.
(1) Subject to the following...
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