In these Regulations—

• “the Administration Act” means the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

• “the Contributions and Benefits Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992;

• “the Employment Rights Order” means the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 19963;

• “the Taxes Act” means the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 19884;

• “adjudicating authority” means any person or body with responsibility under the Administration Act and regulations made thereunder, for the determination of claims for benefit and questions arising in connection with claims for, or awards of, or disqualification for receiving benefit;

• “benefit week” means—

  1. a

     any period of 7 days corresponding to the week in respect of which the relevant benefit is due to be paid and, where appropriate, in respect of payments due to be paid before that week; or

  2. b

     the period of 7 days ending on the day before the first day of the first such week following the date of claim or any one of the consecutive periods of 7 days prior to that period;

• “board and lodging accommodation” means—

  1. a

     accommodation provided to a person or, if he is a member of a family, to him or any other member of his family, for a charge which is inclusive of the provision of that accommodation and at least some cooked or prepared meals which both are cooked or prepared (by a person other than the person to whom the accommodation is provided or a member of his family) and are consumed in that accommodation or associated premises; or

  2. b

     accommodation provided to a person in a hotel, guest house, lodging house or some similar establishment,

  except accommodation provided by a close relative of his or of any other member of his family, or other than on a commercial basis;

• “claim” means a claim for benefit under Parts II to V of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “claimant” means a person claiming benefit under Parts II to V of the Contributions and Benefits Act and includes a claimant’s spouse or partner and any adult in respect of whom a claim for an increase in benefit is made under Part IV of that Act;

• “close relative” means a parent, parent-in-law, son, son-in-law, daughter, daughter-in-law, step-parent, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister or the spouse of any of the preceding persons or, if that person is one of an unmarried couple, the other member of that couple;

• “couple” means a married or an unmarried couple;

• “date of claim” means the date on which the claimant makes, or is treated as making, a claim for benefit for the purposes of regulation 6 of the Social Security (Claims and Payments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 19875;

• “dwelling occupied as the home” means the dwelling including any garage, garden and outbuildings normally occupied by the claimant as his home, together with—

  1. a

     any agricultural land adjoining that dwelling; and

  2. b

     any land not adjoining that dwelling which it is impracticable or unreasonable to sell separately;

• “earnings” has the meaning prescribed in regulation 9 or, as the case may be, 12 and, for the purposes only of sections 80, 82 to 86A and 89 of, and paragraphs 4, 6 and 7 of Schedule 7 to, the Contributions and Benefits Act6, includes payments by way of occupational or personal pension within the meaning of section 121 of that Act;

• “employed earner” means a person who is in gainful employment in Northern Ireland under a contract of service, or in an office (including elective office) with emoluments chargeable to income tax under Schedule E and includes—

  1. a

     a person in any employment which would be such employment if it were in Northern Ireland; and

  2. b

     a person in any such employment which, in accordance with the provisions of the Contributions and Benefits Act and of any regulations made thereunder, is to be disregarded in relation to liability for contributions;

• “employment” includes any trade, business, profession, office or vocation;

• “invalid carriage or other vehicle” means a vehicle propelled by a petrol engine or by electric power supplied for use on the road and to be controlled by the occupant;

• “lone parent” means a person who has no partner and who is responsible for, and a member of the same household as, a child within the meaning of section 138 of the Contributions and Benefits Act;

• “lower rate”, where it relates to rates of income tax, has the same meaning as in section 832(1) of the Taxes Act7;

• “maternity leave” means a period during which a woman is absent from work because she is pregnant or has given birth to a child, and at the end of which she has a right to return to work either under the terms of her contract of employment or under Part IX of the Employment Rights Order;

• “net earnings” means such earnings as are calculated in accordance with regulation 10(4);

• “net profit” means such profit as is calculated in accordance with regulation 13(4);

• “occupational pension scheme” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 19938;

• “partner” means where a claimant—

  1. a

     is a member of a couple, the other member of that couple;

  2. b

     is married polygamously to 2 or more members of his household, any such member;

• “payment” includes a part of a payment;

• “pay period” means the period in respect of which a claimant is, or expects to be, normally paid by his employer, being a week, a fortnight, 4 weeks, a month or such other shorter or longer period as the case may be;

• “personal pension scheme” has the same meaning as in section 1 of the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993 and, in the case of a self-employed earner, includes a scheme approved under Chapter IV of Part XIV of the Taxes Act;

• “polygamous marriage” means any marriage during the subsistence of which a party to it is married to more than one person and the ceremony of marriage took place under the law of a country which permits polygamy;

• “relevant earnings limit” means the amount of a claimant’s earnings in excess of which the benefit or increase in question is not payable;

• “retirement annuity contract” means a contract or trust scheme approved under Chapter III of Part XIV of the Taxes Act;

• “self-employed earner” means a person who is in gainful employment in Northern Ireland otherwise than as an employed earner and includes—

  1. a

     a person in any employment which would be such employment if it were in Northern Ireland; and

  2. b

     a person in any such employment which, in accordance with the provisions of the Contribution and Benefits Act and of any regulations made thereunder, is to be disregarded in relation to liability for contributions;

• “voluntary organisation” means any association carrying on or proposing to carry on any activities otherwise than for the purpose of gain by the association or by individual members of the association;

• “week” means a period of 7 days and, for the purposes of section 80 of, and paragraph 4(6) of Schedule 7 to, the Contributions and Benefits Act, a period of 7 days being the relevant benefit week;

• “year of assessment” has the same meaning as in section 832(1) of the Taxes Act.

The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19549 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to a Measure of the Assembly.

For the purposes of Parts II to V of the Contributions and Benefits Act (other than those of Schedule 8) and of any regulations made thereunder which relate to benefit under those Parts of that Act or regulations, the earnings of a claimant shall be calculated by determining in accordance with these Regulations the weekly amount of his earnings.

The amount of a claimant’s earnings for any period shall be the whole of his earnings (including any earnings which he is treated as possessing under regulation 4 (notional earnings)) except in so far as regulations 10 and 13 provide that certain sums shall be disregarded or deducted as appropriate.

Where a claimant’s earnings are not ascertainable at the date of the determination of the claim or of any subsequent review, the adjudicating authority shall treat the claimant as possessing such earnings as is reasonable in the circumstances of the case having regard to the number of hours worked and the earnings paid for comparable employment in the area.

Where the claimant is an employed earner in the Republic of Ireland the amounts to be deducted for income tax and primary Class 1 contributions under this regulation shall be such amounts as, in the opinion of the adjudicating authority, would have been deducted had the claimant been employed in Northern Ireland.

Earnings derived from employment as an employed earner shall be calculated or estimated over a period determined in accordance with the following paragraphs and at a weekly amount determined in accordance with regulation 8 (calculation of weekly amount of earnings).

Where earnings to which regulation 9(1)(b) to (d) applies are paid in respect of part of a day, those earnings shall be taken into account over a period equal to a week.

Any earnings to which regulation 9(1)(i)(ii) applies which are paid in respect of, or on the termination of, part-time employment shall be taken into account over a period equal to a week.

In this regulation—

• “part-time employment” means—

  1. a

     subject to paragraphs (b) to (d), employment in which a person is engaged or, where his hours of work fluctuate, he is engaged on average, for less than 16 hours a week being work for which payment is made or which is done in expectation of payment;

  2. b

     subject to paragraph (c), the number of hours for which a person is engaged in work shall be determined—

     1. i

        where no recognisable cycle has been established in respect of his work, by reference to the number of hours or, where those hours are likely to fluctuate, the average of the hours, which he is expected to work in a week,

     2. ii

        where the number of hours for which he is engaged fluctuate, by reference to the average of hours worked over—

        1. aa

           where there is a recognisable cycle of work, the period of one complete cycle (including, where the cycle involves periods in which he does not work, those periods but disregarding any other absences),

        2. bb

           in any other case, the period of 5 weeks immediately before the date of claim or the date of review, or such other period as may, in the particular case, enable his average hours of work to be determined more accurately;

  3. c

     where, for the purpose of paragraph (b)(ii)(aa), a person’s recognisable cycle of work at a school, other educational establishment or other place of employment is one year and includes periods of school holidays or similar vacations during which he does not work, those periods and any other periods not forming part of such holidays or vacations during which he is not required to work shall be disregarded in establishing the average hours for which he is engaged in work;

  4. d

     for the purposes of paragraphs (a) and (b), in determining the number of hours for which a person is engaged in work, that number shall include any time allowed to him by his employer for meals or refreshment, but only where that person is, or expects to be, paid earnings in respect of that time;

Where a payment from a particular source is or has been made regularly and that payment falls to be taken into account in the same benefit week as a payment of the same kind and from the same source, the amount of those earnings to be taken into account in any one benefit week shall not exceed the weekly amount determined under paragraph (1)(a) or (b), as the case may be, of the payment which under regulation 7 (date on which earnings are treated as paid) is treated as paid first.

Where any payment of earnings is taken into account under paragraph (7) of regulation 6 over the period specified in that paragraph, the amount to be taken into account shall be equal to the amount of the payment.

“Earnings” shall not include any payment in respect of expenses wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of the employment.

In this regulation—

• “compensation” means any payment made in respect of, or on the termination of, employment in a case where a person has not received, or has received only part of, a payment in lieu of notice due or which would have been due to him had he not waived his right to receive it, other than—

  1. a

     any payment specified in paragraph (1)(a) to (h);

  2. b

     any payment specified in paragraph (3);

  3. c

     any redundancy payment within the meaning of Article 170 of the Employment Rights Order;

  4. d

     any refund of contributions to which that person was entitled under an occupational pension scheme;

• “maximum weekly amount” means the maximum weekly amount which, on the date on which the payment of compensation is made, is specified in Article 23(1) of the Employment Rights Order;

• “part-time employment” has the same meaning as in regulation 6(8) (calculation of earnings of employed earners).

For the purposes of regulations 3 (calculation of earnings) and 6 (calculation of earnings of employed earners), the earnings of a claimant derived from employment as an employed earner to be taken into account shall, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), be his net earnings.

Where the claimant is an employed earner in the Republic of Ireland the amounts to be deducted for income tax and primary Class 1 contributions under this regulation shall be such amounts as, in the opinion of the adjudicating authority, would have been deducted had the claimant been employed in Northern Ireland.

Where the claimant’s earnings consist of royalties or sums paid periodically for, or in respect of, any copyright, those earnings shall be taken into account over a period equal to such number of weeks as is equal to the number (less any fraction of a whole number) calculated in accordance with the formula—

ST+U

Subject to paragraph (2), “earnings”, in the case of employment as a self-employed earner, means the gross receipts of the employment and includes any allowance paid to the claimant pursuant to provision or arrangements made by the Department of Economic Development under sections 2 and 3 of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act (Northern Ireland) 194514 or section 1(1) of the Employment and Training Act (Northern Ireland) 195015 or any sum analogous to such an allowance payable to the claimant under the legislation of, or any scheme operating in, the Republic of Ireland for the purpose of assisting him in carrying on his business.

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(b), the net profit of the employment shall be calculated by taking into account the earnings of the employment over the period determined under regulation 11 less, subject to paragraphs (6) to (8), any expenses wholly and exclusively defrayed in that period for the purposes of that employment.

The adjudicating authority shall refuse to make a deduction in respect of any expenses under paragraph (4)(a) or (5) where it is not satisfied that the expense has been defrayed or, having regard to the nature of the expense and its amount, that it has been reasonably incurred.

Notwithstanding regulation 11 and the foregoing paragraphs, an adjudicating authority may assess any item of a claimant’s earnings or expenditure over a period other than that determined under regulation 11 as may, in the particular case, enable the weekly amount of that item of earnings or expenditure to be determined more accurately.

For the avoidance of doubt, where a claimant is engaged in employment as a self-employed earner and he is engaged in one or more other employments as a self-employed or employed earner, any loss incurred in any one of his employments shall not be offset against his earnings in any other of his employments.

Where the claimant is a self-employed earner or a share fisherman in the Republic of Ireland the amounts to be deducted for income tax and contributions under this regulation shall be such amounts as, in the opinion of the adjudicating authority, would have been deducted had the claimant been employed in Northern Ireland.

The amount to be deducted in respect of income tax under regulation 13(1)(b)(i), (4)(b)(i) or (10)(a)(i) (calculation of net profit of self-employed earners) shall be calculated on the basis of the amount of chargeable income and as if that income were assessable to income tax at the lower rate or, as the case may be, the lower rate and the basic rate of tax less only the personal relief to which the claimant is entitled under sections 257(1), 257A(1) and 259 of the Taxes Act17 as is appropriate to his circumstances; but if the period determined under regulation 11 (calculation of earnings of self-employed earners) is less than a year, the earnings to which the lower rate of tax is to be applied and the amount of the personal relief deductible under this paragraph shall be calculated on a pro rata basis.

Where the Department has prior to 25th November 1996 directed under regulation 6(1) of the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 197821 (interim payments) that payment of any benefit shall be suspended and it appears to it that a question arises whether the award ought to be revised, that direction shall, unless the Department directs otherwise, continue to have effect and the benefit shall continue to be suspended for a further period until the amount of the claimant’s earnings in respect of that further period has been determined in accordance with these Regulations.

Where the Department has prior to 25th November 1996 made interim payments under regulation 6(2) of the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1978 and it is impracticable for a review relating to the claim to be immediately determined, it may make such further interim payments (not exceeding the amount of benefit in question which would be payable if there were no earnings less any interim payments already made) as it may think appropriate in the circumstances.

The provisions of the Contributions and Benefits Act and the Administration Act and regulations made under those Acts shall apply to any further interim payment required to be repaid by virtue of paragraph (3) as if it had been a payment of benefit required to be repaid.

The regulations specified in column (1) of Schedule 4 are hereby revoked to the extent mentioned in column (3).

In the case of a claimant who was entitled to benefit for a benefit week which commenced on a date prior to 25th November 1996 then, in respect of each day in that benefit week, the Social Security Benefit (Computation of Earnings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1978 shall have effect in his case as if paragraph (1) had not been made.