Legislation – The Statutory Sick Pay (Coronavirus) (Funding of Employers’ Liabilities) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020

PART 2Eligibility for funding

Funding of eligible employers’ liabilities by HMRC3.

(1)

An eligible employer who has made a payment of statutory sick pay3 to an employee where—

(a)

that employee’s period of incapacity for work4 is related to coronavirus; and

(b)

the first day of incapacity for work in that period falls on or after 13th March 2020,

is, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), entitled to recover the amount paid to the employee (the “reimbursement amount”) from HMRC.

(2)

An eligible employer is not entitled to recover a reimbursement amount from HMRC—

(a)

if, were the eligible employer to receive the reimbursement amount claimed, the amount of State aid received by the eligible employer would exceed the maximum temporary aid amount for that eligible employer; or

(b)

in respect of an employee for a period for which the eligible employer is entitled to a grant in respect of that employee under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

(3)

The amount which an eligible employer may recover from HMRC under these Regulations is limited to—

(a)

in relation to a single employee, £191.70; and

(b)

in total, £191.70 multiplied by the number of employees enrolled in PAYE schemes of the eligible employer on 28th February 2020, determined in accordance with regulation 4.

(4)

In this regulation—

(a)

an employee includes an employee who—

(i)

was employed by the eligible employer during a period of incapacity for work related to coronavirus,

(ii)

has received a payment of statutory sick pay from the eligible employer in respect of that period of incapacity for work, and

(iii)

no longer works for the eligible employer;

(b)

the reference to the reimbursement amount in paragraph (2)(a) is to that amount converted into euros using the European Commission’s—

(i)

official monthly accounting rate for the euro; and

(ii)

conversion rate for April 20205; and

(c)

the “Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme” is the scheme set out in the Schedule to the Coronavirus Act 2020 Functions of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme) Direction6.