Part 1: Main Provisions Section 42: Statutory sick pay: funding of employers’ liabilities: Northern Ireland
This section inserts a new section (154B) in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992. It provides for a power in relation to the funding of additional employer liabilities for SSP incurred as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The section provides the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs with a power to make regulations which provide for the payment by employers of SSP for absences related to COVID-19 to be recoverable from HMRC in prescribed circumstances.
	The regulations may control the levels of rebate, to whom the rebate is paid, and the period for which the rebate will be available. As the nature of the COVID-19 outbreak changes, it might be considered appropriate to extend the rebate to larger businesses. It might also become necessary to increase, or decrease, the amount of the rebate payable. The above will be achievable using the new regulation-making power.
	There are penalties for employers who make fraudulent claims or who fail to keep the records required to support a claim.
	The territorial extent and application of this section is Northern Ireland only.