The Family Credit (General) Amendment Regulations 1992

Amendment of regulation 20 of the General Regulations

7.  In regulation 20 of the General Regulations (calculation of net earnings of employed earners)(1)—

(a) for paragraph (1) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(1) For the purposes of regulation 14 (normal weekly earnings of employed earners) the earnings of a claimant to be taken into account shall be his average weekly net earnings derived from, or likely to be derived from, his employment as an employed earner either during the assessment period relevant to his case or, where an estimate of earnings has been made in his case, as estimated, and those weekly net earnings shall be determined in accordance with the following paragraphs.”;

(b) in paragraph (3)—

(i) for the words from the beginning to “from that employment” there shall be substituted the words “A claimant’s net earnings shall, except where paragraph (4) applies, be calculated by taking into account his gross earnings from that employment”;

(ii) at the end of sub-paragraph (b), there shall be added the following—

“and

(c) the net amount of bonus or commission (if any) which is paid separately from his other earnings or is paid in respect of a period longer than the pay period relating to the other earnings with which it is paid and that net amount shall be the gross amount of that bonus or commission after deducting from it sums calculated in accordance with paragraphs (a) to (c) of regulation 20A (calculation of bonus or commission).”;

(c) in paragraph (4)—

(i) for the words “estimated under paragraph (2A)” there shall be substituted the words “estimated under paragraph (6)”;

(ii) for the words “the assessment period” there shall be substituted the words “the period in respect of which the estimate is made”;

(d) after paragraph (4) there shall be added the following paragraphs—

“(5) When a claimant’s net earnings have been calculated in accordance with paragraph (3), his average net earnings in respect of his pay period shall be calculated as follows—

(a) the net earnings in each of the pay periods in his assessment period shall be aggregated, that total shall then be divided by the number of pay periods in his assessment period and the resulting amount shall be the average net earnings for his pay period;

(b) where in respect of any pay period, a claimant’s net earnings are twenty per cent. or more higher, or twenty per cent. or more lower, than his average net earnings, those net earnings and that pay period shall be omitted, his assessment period shall be reduced accordingly and his average net earnings shall, subject to sub- paragraph (c), be re-calculated in accordance with sub-paragraph (a);

(c) where the operation of sub-paragraph (b) results in no pay period remaining in a claimant’s assessment period there shall be omitted from the assessment period any pay period in which no earnings are received or in which the net earnings received are for a period longer than his normal pay period and his average net earnings shall be re-calculated in accordance with sub-paragraph (a);

(d) where the operation of sub-paragraph (c) results in no pay periods remaining, paragraph (6) of regulation 14 (normal weekly earnings of employed earners) and paragraph (4) of this regulation shall apply in his case.

(6) Where a claimant’s average net earnings for his pay period have been calculated in accordance with paragraph (5) and his pay period is—

(a) a week, a fortnight or four weeks, his average net earnings for his pay period shall be divided by the number of weeks in that period;

(b) a month, his average net earnings shall be multiplied by 12, the resulting product divided by 52;

(c) any shorter or longer period than those referred to in sub- paragraphs (a) and (b), his average net earnings for his pay period shall be multiplied by 7 and the product divided by the number equal to the number of days in his pay period,

and the resulting amount shall be his average weekly net earnings.”.

(1)

Relevant amending instruments are S.I. 1988/660 and 1990/574.