These Regulations amend the Social Security (Credits) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1975, the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 and the Social Security (Crediting and Treatment of Contributions, and National Insurance Numbers) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001.

Regulation 2 amends the Social Security (Credits) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1975 so that certain claimants—

• previously entitled to incapacity benefit as a result of satisfying the contribution condition referred to in paragraph 2(3)(a) of Schedule 3 to the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992; or

• who wish to satisfy the condition referred to in paragraph 5(3)(a) of Schedule 3 to that Act for a retirement pension or in Article 4 of the Jobseekers (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 for contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance,

and whose National Insurance contributions record had previously contained earnings credited by virtue of official error deriving from a failure to transpose correctly certain information from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Pension Strategy Computer System to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ computer system (National Insurance Recording System 2) will be credited with earnings to enable them to be entitled to incapacity benefit, a retirement pension or a contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance.

Regulation 3 amends the Social Security and Child Support (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 to provide that decisions to award retirement pensions, contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance, incapacity benefit and bereavement benefits need not be revised for an official error where that error relates to credits or earnings for incapacity for work and derives from the failure to transpose certain information correctly and the resulting award was more advantageous to the claimant.

Regulation 4 amends the Social Security (Crediting and Treatment of Contributions, and National Insurance Numbers) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2001 to provide that certain Class 2 and Class 3 contributions which may have been paid after the due date as a result of official error but less than six years after the end of the year in which the contributor was first advised of the error, are to be treated as paid on the day on which they are paid so as to give rise to entitlement to contributory benefits.

These Regulations make in relation to Northern Ireland only provision corresponding to provision contained in Regulations made by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 149(3) of, and paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 to, the Social Security Administration (Northern Ireland) Act 1992, are not subject to the requirement of section 149(2) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.