Conditions relating to national insurance
1.—(1) The first condition is that—
(a)the claimant has actually paid Class 1 or Class 2 contributions in respect of one of the last three complete tax years (“the base tax year”) before the beginning of the relevant benefit year,
(b)those contributions must have been paid before the relevant benefit week, and
(c)the earnings factor derived as mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) must be not less than the base tax year’s lower earnings limit multiplied by 25.
(2) The earnings factor referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(c) is the aggregate of the claimant’s earnings factors derived—
(a)from so much of his earnings as did not exceed the base tax year’s upper earnings limit and upon which primary Class 1 contributions have been paid or treated as paid, and
(b)from Class 2 contributions.
(3) Where primary Class 1 contributions have been paid or treated as paid on any part of a person’s earnings, sub-paragraph (2)(a) shall have effect as if such contributions had been paid or treated as paid on so much of the earnings as did not exceed the base tax year’s upper earnings limit.
(4) Regulations may—
(a)provide for the condition set out in sub-paragraph (1) to be taken to be satisfied in the case of persons who have been entitled to any prescribed description of benefit during any prescribed period or at any prescribed time;
(b)with a view to securing any relaxation of the requirements of that condition in relation to persons who have been so entitled, provide for that condition to apply in relation to them subject to prescribed modifications.
(5) In sub-paragraph (4), “benefit” means—
(a)any benefit within the meaning of section 121(1) of the Contributions and Benefits Act,
(b)any benefit under Parts 7 to 12 of that Act,
(c)credits under regulations under section 22(5) of that Act,
(d)a contributory allowance, and
(e)working tax credit.
2.—(1) The second condition is that—
(a)the claimant has in respect of the last two complete tax years before the beginning of the relevant benefit year either paid or been credited with Class 1 or Class 2 contributions or been credited with earnings, and
(b)the earnings factor derived as mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) must be not less in each of those years than the year’s lower earnings limit multiplied by 50.
(2) The earnings factor referred to in sub-paragraph (1)(b) is the aggregate of the claimant’s earnings factors derived—
(a)from so much of his earnings as did not exceed the upper earnings limit for the year and upon which primary Class 1 contributions have been paid or treated as paid or from earnings credited, and
(b)from Class 2 contributions.
(3) Where primary Class 1 contributions have been paid or treated as paid on any part of a person’s earnings, sub-paragraph (2)(a) shall have effect as if such contributions had been paid or treated as paid on so much of the earnings as did not exceed the upper earnings limit for the year.
3.—(1) For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 2—
(a)“benefit year” means a period which is a benefit year for the purposes of Part 2 of the Contributions and Benefits Act or such other period as may be prescribed for the purposes of this Part of this Schedule;
(b)“Class 1 contributions”, “Class 2 contributions” and “primary Class 1 contributions” have the same meaning as in the Contributions and Benefits Act (see section 1 of that Act);
(c)“earnings” shall be construed in accordance with sections 3, 4 and 112 of that Act;
(d)“earnings factor” shall be construed in accordance with sections 22 and 23 of that Act;
(e)“lower earnings limit” and “upper earnings limit” shall be construed in accordance with section 5 of that Act and references to the lower or upper earnings limit of a tax year are to whatever is (or was) the limit in force for that year under that section;
(f)“relevant benefit year” is the benefit year which includes the beginning of the period of limited capability for work which includes the relevant benefit week;
(g)“tax year” means the 12 months beginning with 6th April in any year.
(2) Regulations may provide for sub-paragraph (1)(f) to have effect in prescribed circumstances with prescribed modifications in the case of—
(a)a person who has previously ceased to be entitled to a contributory allowance;
(b)a person who has made a claim for an employment and support allowance in connection with which he failed to satisfy one or both of the conditions in paragraphs 1 and 2.