Statutory Sick Pay (Northern Ireland) Order 1991

JurisdictionUK Non-devolved
CitationSI 1991/765

1991 No. 765 (N.I. 9)

NORTHERN IRELAND

The Statutory Sick Pay (Northern Ireland) Order 1991

Made 20th March 1991

Laid before Parliament 25th March 1991

Coming into operation in accordance with Article 1

At the court at Buckingham Palace, the 20th day of March 1991

Present,

The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Whereas this Order is made only for purposes corresponding to those of the Statutory Sick Pay Act 19911:

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred by paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland Act 19742(as modified by section 4(5) of the said Act of 1991) and of all other powers enabling Her in that behalf, is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:—

S-1 Title, citation and commencement

Title, citation and commencement

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Statutory Sick Pay (Northern Ireland) Order 1991.

(2) This Order and the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Acts 1975 to 1990 may be cited together as the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Acts 1975 to 1991.

(3) This Article, Article 2 and paragraphs (1) and (3) to (6) of Article 5 shall come into operation on the seventh day after the day on which this Order is made.

(4) The remaining provisions of this Order shall come into operation on such day or days as the Head of the Department may by order appoint.

S-2 Interpretation

Interpretation

2.—(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19543shall apply to Article 1 and the following provisions of this Order as it applies to a Measure of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(2) In this Order—

“the Department” means the Department of Health and Social Services;

“the 1982 Order” means the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 19824;

“the 1986 Order” means the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 19865;

“the principal Act” means the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Act 19756;

“statutory provision” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954.

S-3 Reduction in the amounts recoverable by employers who have paid statutory sick pay

Reduction in the amounts recoverable by employers who have paid statutory sick pay

3.—(1) In Article 11 of the 1982 Order (recovery by employers of amounts paid by way of statutory sick pay), in paragraph (1)—

(a)

(a) in sub-paragraph (a) (which requires regulations to make provision entitling an employer who has made a payment of statutory sick pay to recover the amount so paid by making deductions from his contributions payments), for the words from “a payment” to “by making” there shall be substituted the words

“one or more payments of statutory sick pay in a prescribed period to recover an amount equal to the sum of—

(i)

(i) the aggregate of such of those payments as qualify for small employers' relief, and

(ii)

(ii) an amount equal to 80 per cent. of the aggregate of such of those payments as do not so qualify,

by making”; and

(b)

(b) in sub-paragraph (b) (which requires regulations to provide for payments to be made by or on behalf of the Department to employers who are unable to recover by such deductions the whole or any part of any payments of statutory sick pay which they have made), for the words “any payments of statutory sick pay which they have made” there shall be substituted the words “the amounts which they are entitled to recover by virtue of sub-paragraph (a)”.

(2) Paragraph (1A) of that Article (which requires regulations to give an employer who has paid statutory sick pay a right to an amount determined in such manner as may be prescribed) shall cease to have effect.

(3) In paragraph (3) of that Article (provision that may be made by regulations), after sub-paragraph (b) there shall be added the words

“and

(c)

(c) provide for the rounding up or down of any fraction of a penny which would otherwise result from calculating the amount which an employer is entitled to recover for any period by virtue of paragraph (1)(a).”.

(4) In consequence of paragraph (1), in section 1(4A) of the principal Act (which with section 128(2A) of that Act provides for payments to be made out of money appropriated for the purpose into the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund in each financial year of an amount equal to the estimated aggregate of all statutory sick pay and statutory maternity pay paid by employers and others in that year), for the words “paid by employers and others in that year” there shall be substituted the words “recovered by employers and others in that year”.

(5) In Article 24 of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 19897(recovery of sums equivalent to benefit from compensation payments), in the definition of “benefit” in paragraph (3), after the word “and” there shall be inserted the words “, subject to regulations under paragraph (3A),”, and after paragraph (3) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

S-3A

“3A If statutory sick pay is prescribed as a relevant benefit, the amount of that benefit for the purposes of this Article shall be a reduced amount determined in accordance with regulations by reference to the percentage specified in Article 11(1)(a) of the 1982 Order (percentage of statutory sick pay recoverable by employers by deduction from contributions).”.

S-4 Small employers' relief

Small employers' relief

4.—(1) In Article 11 of the 1982 Order, before paragraph (2) (meaning of “contributions payments”) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

S-1B

“1B For the purposes of this Article, a payment of statutory sick pay which an employer is liable to make to an employee for any day which forms part of a period of incapacity for work qualifies for small employers' relief if—

(a) on that day the employer is a small employer who has been liable to pay statutory sick pay in respect of that employee for earlier days forming part of that period of incapacity for work; and

(b) the aggregate amount of those payments exceeds the entitlement threshold, that is to say an amount equal to W×R, where— W is a prescribed number of weeks; and R is the appropriate weekly rate set out in Article 9;

and regulations may make provision for calculating the entitlement threshold in any case where the employee’s entitlement to statutory sick pay is calculated by...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT