Calculation of net earnings of employed earners
35.—(1) For the purposes of regulation 29 (average weekly earnings of employed earners), the earnings of an applicant derived or likely to be derived from employment as an employed earner to be taken into account are, subject to paragraph (2), the applicant’s net earnings.
(2) Any sum, where applicable, specified in Schedule 3 is to be disregarded when calculating an applicant’s net earnings.
(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1) net earnings are, except where paragraph (6) applies, to be calculated by taking into account the gross earnings of the applicant from that employment over the assessment period, less—
(a)any amount deducted from those earnings by way of—
(i)income tax;
(ii)primary Class 1 contributions under the 1992 Act;
(b)one-half of any sum paid by the applicant by way of a contribution towards an occupational pension scheme;
(c)one-half of the amount calculated in accordance with paragraph (5) in respect of any qualifying contribution payable by the applicant; and
(d)where those earnings include a payment which is payable under any enactment having effect in Northern Ireland and which corresponds to statutory sick pay, statutory maternity pay, ordinary or additional statutory paternity pay or statutory adoption pay, any amount deducted from those earnings by way of any contributions which are payable under any enactment having effect in Northern Ireland and which correspond to primary Class 1 contributions under the 1992 Act.
(4) In this regulation “qualifying contribution” means any sum which is payable periodically as a contribution towards a personal pension scheme.
(5) The amount in respect of any qualifying contribution is to be calculated by multiplying the daily amount of the qualifying contribution by the number equal to the number of days in the assessment period; and for the purposes of this regulation the daily amount of the qualifying contribution is to be determined—
(a)where the qualifying contribution is payable monthly, by multiplying the amount of the qualifying contribution by 12 and dividing the product by 365; and
(b)in any other case, by dividing the amount of the qualifying contribution by the number equal to the number of days in the period to which the qualifying contribution relates.
(6) Where the earnings of an applicant are estimated under regulation 29(2)(b) (average weekly earnings of employed earners), the applicant’s net earnings are to be calculated by taking into account those earnings over the assessment period, less—
(a)an amount in respect of income tax equivalent to an amount calculated by applying to those earnings the basic rate of tax applicable to the assessment period less only the personal relief to which the applicant is entitled under section 35(1) of the Income Tax Act 2007(1) (personal allowance for those aged under 65) as is appropriate to the applicant’s circumstances but, if the assessment period is less than a year, the earnings to which the basic rate of tax is to be applied and the amount of the personal relief deductible under this sub‑paragraph are to be calculated on a pro rata basis;
(b)an amount equivalent to the amount of the primary Class 1 contributions that would be payable by the applicant under the 1992 Act in respect of those earnings if such contributions were payable; and
(c)one-half of any sum which would be payable by the applicant by way of a contribution towards an occupational or personal pension scheme, if the earnings so estimated were actual earnings.
2007 c.3 as amended by section 4(1) of the Finance Act 2009 (c.10) and S.I. 2011/2926.