National Insurance (Non-participation—Assurance of Equivalent Pension Benefits) Regulations 1960

Part VI U.K. Miscellaneous Provisions

Extension of temporary interruptions and of assurance periods U.K.

18.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation, the Minister on application being made to him, may, for the purpose of paragraphs (2) and (3) of regulation 2, in any particular case or class of cases extend the period of thirteen contribution weeks referred to in those paragraphs for such further period or periods as he shall from time to time direct, so, however, that no such extension—

(a) shall prolong the said period to more than one hundred and thirty weeks in all; or

(b) shall be granted save in the following cases, that is to say,

(i) the insured person's incapacity for work, where the Minister is satisfied that but for the incapacity the employment would continue or have continued; or

(ii) the insured person's temporary absence from Great Britain in an employment under the same employer; or

(iii) any other case in which the Minister, having regard to whether the insured person retains membership of the recognised superannuation scheme relating to the employment or other qualification for benefit thereunder and to any other relevant circumstances, is satisfied that the interruption can be regarded as temporary.

(2) Subject as aforesaid, the Minister, on application being made to him, may, for the purpose of all or any of the provisions of these regulations which require or authorise or make other provision with respect to the making of a payment in lieu of contributions, the giving of any notice or the doing of any other thing within (or not later than the end of) an assurance period, in any particular case or class of cases extend the assurance period for such further period or periods as he shall from time to time direct, so, however, that no such extension shall prolong the assurance period to more than sixty-five weeks in all.

(3) In so extending any period the Minister may impose a condition that the employer or the insured person shall furnish the Minister with such information and give him notice of such events as he may reasonably require for the purpose of any provision of these regulations, and every such person shall observe or perform any such condition accordingly.

(4) An extension of any period under this regulation shall cease if the Minister by written notice to the employer so directs or if the insured person dies, and an extension under head (i) of sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (1) of this regulation shall not be granted for any period after the insured person attains pensionable age:

Provided that where the date for the insured person's retirement on pension under the recognised superannuation scheme relating to his employment is fixed by reference to his attaining that age and so as to fall not later than six months after he does so, but does not depend solely on age, this paragraph shall apply as if he did not attain that age before that date.

(5) Where at the end of any extension allowed in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (1) of this regulation no further such extension is allowed, but a new period of contribution liability has not begun in relation to the employment and the insured person is still living, the employment shall be treated, for the purpose of the provisions of Part II of the Act of 1959 relating to the making of a payment in lieu of contributions at the end of a person's period of service in a non-participating employment, as having come to an end upon the termination of the period of contribution liability or upon such later date, not being later than the end of the extension, as the Minister shall direct; and where the date on which the employment is so treated as having come to an end is a later date than the termination of that period of contribution liability, the provisions of regulation 3 shall apply to any contribution weeks in the intervening period as though they were weeks during which the employment would, apart from that regulation, fall to be treated for that purpose as having continued under paragraph (3) of regulation 2:

Provided that, in a case to which the provisions of paragraph (6) of regulation 2 apply, the references in this paragraph to the termination of the period of contribution liability shall be construed as references to the end of the contribution week immediately preceding the first contribution week beginning in the person's period of service.

(6) In relation to an employment of any class to which section 12 of the Act of 1959 (which relates to certain statutory superannuation schemes) applies, or to an employment where the appropriate recognised superannuation scheme is established by or under the Superannuation Acts or by or under those Acts as applied by any enactment or other instrument having the force of law or by any instrument to which paragraph (3) of regulation 3 of the Benefits and Schemes Regulations applies, the foregoing provisions of this regulation shall be without prejudice to any special arrangements made by the Minister with the consent of the Treasury providing for the time and manner of any payment in lieu of contributions in such a case or otherwise concerning its making.

Offences U.K.

19.  If any person fails without reasonable cause to give notice in accordance with the requirements of regulation 4 or to observe or perform any condition imposed on him in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (3) of regulation 18, he shall for such offence be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding £10, or where the offence consists of continuing any such failure after conviction thereof, £10 together with a further £10 for each day on which it is so continued.