(1)After section 143 of the Administration Act there shall be inserted the following section—
(1)Without prejudice to section 141 above, the Secretary of State may at any time, if he thinks it expedient to do so—
(a)with a view to adjusting the level at which the National Insurance Fund stands for the time being and having regard to the sums which may be expected to be paid from the Fund in any future period; or
(b)having regard to the percentage rate specified as the secondary percentage in section 9(2) of the Contributions and Benefits Act,
make an order altering the percentage rate specified as the Class 1B percentage in section 10A(6) of the Contributions and Benefits Act.
(2)No order shall be made under this section so as to increase for any tax year the percentage rate of the Class 1B percentage to a percentage rate more than 2 per cent higher than the percentage rate applicable at the end of the preceding tax year.”
(2)In subsection (5) of section 162 of that Act (destination of contributions), after paragraph (c) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—
“(ca)in the case of Class 1B contributions, 0.9 per cent of the amount estimated to be the aggregate of the emoluments and the amounts of income tax in respect of which those contributions were paid;”.