National Insurance Contributions Act 2022

2 Freeport conditions

(1) The freeport conditions are that—

(a) the employed earner’s employment is a new employment that—

(i) begins on or after 6 April 2022, but

(ii) does not begin later than 5 April 2026,

(b) the earnings—

(i) are paid during the period of three years beginning with the first day of the employment, but

(ii) are not paid after the relevant end date (see subsection (6)),

(c) the contribution is paid in respect of earnings paid in a tax week all of which is in a qualifying period of the employment, and

(d) at the time the qualifying period begins, the employer reasonably expects that 60% or more of the earner’s employed time during that period will be spent in a single freeport tax site in which the employer has business premises.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), an employment is new if the earner was not employed by the employer or by a person connected with the employer (within the meaning of section 993 of the Income Tax Act 2007) at any time within the period of two years ending with the day on which the employment begins.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1)(c) a qualifying period of the employment is a period—

(a) that begins with—

(i) the start of the employment, or

(ii) a substantial change in the earner’s working arrangements, and

(b) that ends (subject to subsection (4)(d)) with—

(i) the end of the employment,

(ii) the relevant end date, or

(iii) a substantial change in the earner’s working arrangements.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1)(d)—

(a) an earner’s employed time is time when the earner is expected to provide services to the employer under the terms of a contract of service (“working time”), together with time when the earner would have provided such services but for being on leave (of any sort);

(b) it is to be assumed that the proportion of the time when an earner is on leave that is spent at any given freeport tax site is the same as the proportion of the earner’s working time that would be spent at that site if the earner were not on leave;

(c) it does not matter whether the earner is expected to provide services under a single contract of service or under successive contracts of service, provided that the employment does not cease;

(d) if an expectation for the purposes of subsection (1)(d) ceases to be reasonable in any given tax week, the condition in that subsection ceases to be met, and the qualifying period is taken to end, at the end of the previous tax week.

(5) If the secondary contributor in relation to the earner is not the earner’s employer—

(a) subsection (1)(d) has effect as if both references to “the employer” were references to “the secondary contributor”, and

(b) subsection (2) has effect as if, after both references to “the employer”, there were inserted “or the secondary contributor”.

(6) The relevant end date is the earlier of—

(a) the last day of the period of three years beginning with the day after the day for the time being specified in subsection (1)(a)(ii), and

(b) 5 April 2031.