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PART IIINon-participating Employments.

Determination of nature of employment.

56Non-participating employments.

(1)Subject to the provisions of this Act, an employed contributor's employment shall, in relation to any person employed in it who is over the age of eighteen and under pensionable age, be a non-participating employment for any period during which—

(a)his service in it, subject to paragraph 12 of Schedule 11 to this Act, is service qualifying him under a recognised superannuation scheme for retirement benefits by way of pension which are on the whole as favourable as the right to benefit to be derived from graduated contributions (in this Act referred to as " equivalent pension benefits "); and

(b)there is in force a certificate issued under this section to the employer that the employment is to be treated as a non-participating employment;

and an employment which is a non-participating employment in relation to a person employed in it immediately before he attains pensionable age shall, if the conditions of this Part of this Act other than paragraph (a) of this subsection are satisfied, continue to be a non-participating employment in relation to him so long as he continues to be employed in it and has not retired from regular employment.

(2)Where a person is in the same contribution week employed both in a non-participating employment and in another employed contributor's employment, then unless provision to the contrary is made by regulations, any contribution payable by or in respect of him for that week under section 3 of this Act shall be payable at the rate appropriate to a non-participating employment.

(3)Subject to paragraph 13 of Schedule 11 to this Act, where a person is in any income tax year employed both in a non-participating employment and in another employed contributor's employment, then any question as to the amount (if any) by which the graduated contributions paid by him in respect of remuneration paid in that year exceed the amount prescribed under section 4(4) of this Act shall be determined as if (in addition to those contributions) on the first day of any contribution week in which he was employed in a non-participating employment he had paid a graduated contribution in respect of a weekly payment of remuneration of eighteen pounds made on that day:

Provided that if he is treated under section 58 of this Act as having on any such day paid a graduated contribution or part of one, this subsection shall treat him as paying on that day only such contribution (if any) as is necessary in order to make up the amount he is treated as having paid to that of such a graduated contribution as aforesaid.

(4)For the purpose of determining liability to graduated contributions, an employment shall be deemed to be a non-participating employment in relation to a person previously (but no longer) employed in it if—

(a)it was a non-participating employment in relation to him when he was last employed in it; or

(b)he ceased to be employed in it on or before attaining the age of eighteen, and on attaining that age was employed in a non-participating employment under the same employer in place of it.

(5)Regulations shall provide for the issue to employers of certificates specifying the employments which are to be treated either generally or in relation to any description of persons specified in the certificate as non-participating employments, and for the cancellation, variation or surrender of any certificate or issue of an amended certificate on any change of circumstances affecting the treatment of an employment as a non-participating employment, and (subject to the exclusion by subsection (1) of this section of persons under the age of eighteen or over pensionable age) any such certificate for the time being in force shall be conclusive that the employments included in it are non-participating employments:

Provided that—

(a)except in such circumstances as may be prescribed, no such certificate or cancellation, surrender or variation of such a certificate shall have effect from a date earlier than the beginning of the contribution week following that in which it is issued or made ; and

(b)subject to the provisions of this Act, an employment otherwise satisfying the conditions for inclusion in such a certificate shall be so included if and so long as the employer so elects, and not otherwise.

57Equivalent pension benefits, etc.

(1)For the purposes of this Part of this Act, but subject to section 63(2) thereof and paragraph 14 of Schedule 11 thereto, equivalent pension benefits, in relation to any period of service in an employment, comprise, and comprise only, retirement benefits by way of pension as respects which the following conditions are satisfied, that is to say—

(a)the benefits consist of or include a pension which (subject to any condition as to retirement) commences not later than pensionable age, and there is no condition postponing beyond pensionable age the age at which retirement on pension is allowed; and

(b)there is no provision for the surrender, commutation or assignment of the pension or, if there is, some part of the pension is excluded from the operation of it; and

(c)the pension or the said part of it is payable for life, and is not capable of being terminated or suspended except for such causes, if any, as may be prescribed; and

(d)apart from any period before pensionable age, the pension or the said part of it is of an amount not less, when expressed as an annual rate, than, in the case of a man, three pounds nine shillings and sevenpence a year, and, in the case of a woman, two pounds eighteen shillings a year, for each year of the period of service.

(2)Where service in an employment contingently qualifies a person employed in it for retirement benefits by way of pension, then, in determining whether the employment can be treated as a non-participating employment in relation to the persons from time to time so employed or any of them, a person's service shall be treated as qualifying him for such pension benefits, as, in the existing circumstances, can reasonably be expected to accrue to him from a period of service of appropriate length, on the assumption that he remains in an employment qualifying him for those benefits until pensionable age (or as near to that age as the terms of the employment allow) but no longer.

(3)In determining whether an employment can be treated as a non-participating employment in a case where a limit on the maximum amount of the benefits payable or any description of them operates to prevent service beyond a given length from qualifying a person for further benefits, the qualification arising from any period of service shall be determined on the assumption that the total service does not exceed that length.

(4)Any scheme or arrangement having for its object or one of its objects to make provision in respect of persons serving in particular employments for providing them with retirement benefits by way of pension shall be a recognised superannuation scheme for the purposes of this Part of this Act—

(a)if it is established by Act of Parliament or of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, or other instrument having the force of law ; or

(b)if the benefits for which service in those employments qualifies a person, or such part of them as has to be taken into account to constitute them equivalent pension benefits, are secured by irrevocable trust, contract of assurance or annuity contract satisfying such conditions as may be prescribed, or in such other manner as may be prescribed, and the provision made to enable benefits to be paid (taking into account any additional resources which could and would be provided by the employer, or any person connected with the employer, to meet any deficiency) is adequate to ensure payment in full of the benefits or part aforesaid.

(5)Where the date for a person's retirement on pension under a superannuation scheme is fixed by reference to his attaining pensionable age and so as to fall not later than six months after he does so, but does not depend solely on age, this section shall apply in relation to his benefits under that scheme as if he did not attain pensionable age before that date.