The Statutory Sick Pay (Coronavirus) (Funding of Employers’ Liabilities) Regulations 2022
| Year | 2022 |
2022 No. 5
Social Security
The Statutory Sick Pay (Coronavirus) (Funding of Employers’ Liabilities) Regulations 2022
Made 5th January 2022
Laid before Parliament 5th January 2022
Coming into force 14th January 2022
The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 159B and 175(3), (4) and (5A) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 19921.
PART 1
Introduction
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Statutory Sick Pay (Coronavirus) (Funding of Employers’ Liabilities) Regulations 2022 and come into force on 14th January 2022.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations—
“eligible employer” has the meaning given in regulation 4;
“employer PAYE reference number” means the number identifying a PAYE scheme which was given to the employer by HMRC when the employer registered the PAYE scheme with HMRC;
“HMRC” means Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;
“in difficulty” has the meaning given in regulation 4(2);
“maximum temporary aid amount” means the maximum amount of aid permitted to be received by an undertaking in accordance with section 3.1 of the Communication from the Commission of 19 March 2020 on the Temporary Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the current COVID-19 outbreak2;
“original claim” has the meaning given in regulation 9(1)(a);
“PAYE scheme” means a pay as you earn scheme registered on HMRC’s real time information system;
“reimbursement amount” has the meaning given in regulation 3(1).
PART 2
Eligibility for funding
Funding of eligible employers’ liabilities by HMRC
3.—(1) An eligible employer who has made a payment of statutory sick pay3to an employee where—
(a)
(a) that employee’s period of incapacity for work4is related to coronavirus; and
(b)
(b) any day of incapacity for work in that period falls on or after 21st December 2021,
is, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), entitled to recover the amount paid to the employee in respect of those days of incapacity for work which fall on or after 21st December 2021 (the “reimbursement amount”) from HMRC.
(2) An eligible employer is not entitled to recover a reimbursement amount from HMRC—
(a)
(a) if, were the eligible employer to receive the reimbursement amount claimed, the amount of State aid received by the eligible employer would exceed the maximum temporary aid amount for that eligible employer; or
(b)
(b) in respect of an employee for a period for which the eligible employer is entitled to a government grant in respect of that employee due to the employee being furloughed from the employment for reasons related to COVID-19.
(3) The amount which an eligible employer may recover from HMRC under these Regulations is limited to—
(a)
(a) in relation to a single employee, £192.70; and
(b)
(b) in total, £192.70 multiplied by the number of employees enrolled in PAYE schemes of the eligible employer on 30th November 2021, determined in accordance with regulation 4.
(4) In this regulation—
(a)
(a) an employee includes an employee who—
(i) was employed by the eligible employer during a period of incapacity for work related to coronavirus,
(ii) has received a payment of statutory sick pay from the eligible employer in respect of that period of incapacity for work, and
(iii) no longer works for the eligible employer; and
(b)
(b) the reference to the reimbursement amount in paragraph (2)(a) is to that amount converted into euros using the European Commission’s—
(i) official monthly accounting rate for the euro; and
(ii) conversion rate for December 20215.
Meaning of eligible employer
4.—(1) An eligible employer is an employer who—
(a)
(a) on 30th November 2021, had fewer than 250 employees enrolled in all PAYE schemes operated by the employer; and
(b)
(b) on 31st December 2019, was not already in difficulty.
(2) An employer is “in difficulty” if—
(a)
(a) in the case of an employer who is not a micro or small enterprise, it is reasonable to assume that the employer would be regarded as an undertaking in difficulty under Article 2(18) of the General Block Exemption Regulation; or
(b)
(b) in the case of an employer who is a micro or small enterprise, it is reasonable to assume that the employer would be regarded as an undertaking in difficulty either under Article 2(18)(c) of the General Block Exemption Regulation, as if the words after “collective insolvency proceedings”, in the first place it appears, to the end were omitted, or under Article 2(18)(d) of the General Block Exemption Regulation.
(3) Where, on 30th November 2021, the employer was one of—
(a)
(a) two or more companies which were not charities and which were connected with one another; or
(b)
(b) two or more charities which were connected with one another,
the limit in paragraph (1)(a) applies to the total number of employees enrolled in all PAYE schemes operated by the connected companies or charities, as applicable.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (3)—
(a)
(a) Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the National Insurance Contributions Act 20146sets out the rules for determining if two or more companies are connected with one another;
(b)
(b) Part 2 of Schedule 1 to that Act sets out the rules for determining if two or more charities are connected with each other.
(5) In this regulation—
“charity” has the same meaning as in section 18(1) of the Small Charitable Donations Act 20127, subject to paragraph 8(5) of Schedule 1 to the National Insurance Contributions Act 2014;
“company” has the meaning given by section 1121(1) of the Corporation Tax Act 20108and includes a limited liability partnership;
“General Block Exemption Regulation” means Commission Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014of 17 June 2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty9;
“micro or small enterprise” means an employer who is a micro-enterprise or a small enterprise within the meaning of Article 2 of Annex 1 of the General Block Exemption Regulation.
When an employee’s incapacity for work is related to coronavirus
5.—(1) An employee’s incapacity for work is related to coronavirus if the employee is—
(a)
(a) incapable by reason of infection or contamination with coronavirus, or
(b)
(b) deemed, in accordance with regulation 2(1)(c) or (d) of the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 198210, to be incapable by reason of coronavirus,
of doing work which the employee can reasonably be expected to do under the employee’s contract of service, and references in these Regulations to an employee’s period of incapacity for work related to coronavirus shall be construed in accordance with this regulation.
(2) The reference to regulation 2(1)(c) or (d) of the Statutory Sick Pay (General) Regulations 1982 in paragraph (1)(b) is a reference to the regulation which was in force on the first day of incapacity for work in question.
PART 3
Claims
Making a claim
6.—(1) An employer who makes a claim for the recovery of a reimbursement amount must do so in accordance with this regulation.
(2) A claim may include one or more reimbursement amounts paid by the employer—
(a)
(a) to employees enrolled in the same PAYE scheme, and
(b)
(b) during the period of time specified by the employer in accordance with paragraph (3)(d).
(3) The claim must contain the following—
(a)
(a) the employer PAYE reference number for the PAYE scheme to which the claim relates;
(b)
(b) the number of employees the claim relates to;
(c)
(c) the amount claimed;
(d)
(d) the beginning and end dates of the period of time to which the amount specified in accordance with sub-paragraph (c) relates;
(e)
(e) details of the bank account into which the amount specified in accordance with sub-paragraph (c) is to be paid; and
(f)
(f) if required by regulation 9(2), the amount by which the original claim was overstated.
(4) The claim must contain a declaration by the employer that—
(a)
(a) the employer was not already in difficulty on 31st December 2019;
(b)
(b) receipt of the amount claimed will not result in the amount of State aid received by the employer exceeding the maximum temporary aid amount for that employer; and
(c)
(c) the matters stated in the claim are true and accurate.
(5) The claim must be submitted to HMRC electronically using the Government Gateway unless paragraph (6) or regulation 9(2) applies.
(6) If the employer considers that the employer is digitally excluded—
(a)
(a) the employer may make a request to HMRC to submit a claim in an alternative manner, and
(b)
(b) if HMRC are satisfied that the employer is digitally excluded, the employer must submit the claim in a manner agreed with HMRC.
(7) An employer is digitally excluded where—
(a)
(a) it is not reasonably practicable for the employer to use the Government Gateway to submit a claim for any reason including age, disability or remoteness of location, or
(b)
(b) the employer is a person who is a practising member of a religious society or order whose beliefs are incompatible with using the Government...
To continue reading
Request your trial