Supplementation of current earnings
3.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of the Scheme, the Secretary of State may, during the period of eligibility, make a weekly payment as a supplement to the current earnings of any eligible steel employee who is engaged in other full-time employment equal to the amount (if any) by which his current earnings in that week fall short of 90% of his previous earnings.
(2) Subject to the following provisions of the Scheme, the Secretary of State may, during the period of eligibility, pay, in respect of a relevant period, as a supplement to the current earnings of an eligible steel employee who is a self-employed person (whether or not he is engaged in other employment for part or all of that period) the amount (if any) by which his current earnings for the number of weeks for which he is a self-employed person during the relevant period fall short of 90% of his previous earnings for that number of weeks.
(3) Where a self-employed person who in any week is not engaged in other employment is eligible for a payment under paragraph (2) above, the Secretary of State may make him a weekly payment of £16 on account, and the amount payable under paragraph (2) shall be abated by the aggregate amount of any such payments on account made during the relevant period.
(4) The Secretary of State may make his agreement to make any payments on account under paragraph (3) above conditional upon the steel employee’s agreeing to repay the amount (if any) by which the aggregate of any such payments made during the relevant period exceeds any payment for which he would otherwise be eligible under paragraph (2) in respect of that period.
(5) In this Article –
“current earnings” in relation to any week means –
(a)in relation to a person engaged in full-time employment–
(i)in the case of a transferred employee or a redundant employee who enters into further employment with a steel company and who has been in such transferred or further employment for the previous 13 weeks, the average amount of his weekly earnings in those weeks;
(ii)in any other case, the average amount of the employee’s weekly earnings in other employment during the previous 4 weeks or, in relation to his first 4 weeks of employment, his average weekly earnings in those weeks;
(b)in relation to a self-employed person who is not engaged in other employment, the average amount of his weekly earnings as a self-employed person (“the relevant amount”), during the weeks in respect of which he is a self-employed person and not engaged in other employment during the relevant period;
(c)in relation to a self-employed person who is engaged in other employment, the aggregate of the amounts described in –
(i)sub-paragraph (i) or (ii), as the case may be, of paragraph (a); and
(ii)the relevant amount, in respect of the weeks in which he is also engaged in other employment during the relevant period;
“the relevant period” in relation to a self-employed person (whether or not he is also engaged in employment) means –
(d)the period of 26 weeks commencing with the first week after the relevant date in respect of which he is a self-employed person;
(e)any subsequent such period commencing with the first week after any previous relevant period in respect of which he is a self-employed person;
(f)a period of less than 26 weeks commencing with the first week after the relevant date or any previous relevant period, whichever is the later, in respect of which he is a self-employed person and expiring when the period of eligibility expires: provided that for the purposes of the calculation of that person’s current earnings, any such period of less than 26 weeks shall not expire as provided above but shall last for 26 weeks.