Social Security Citation and commencement 1 These Regulations may be cited as the Maternity Allowance and Statutory Maternity Pay (Normal Weekly Earnings etc.) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020 and come into operation on 25th April 2020. Application 2 1 The amendments made by regulation 3 apply only in relation to the calculation of normal weekly earnings for the purpose of determining— a the entitlement of a person to statutory maternity pay under section 160 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”); or b the rate at which statutory maternity pay under section 162 of the 1992 Act is to be paid to that person, in a case where the first day of the period in respect of which statutory maternity pay is to be made is on or after the day on which these Regulations come into operation. 2 The amendments made by regulation 4 apply only in relation to the calculation of the average weekly amount of specified payments made to a woman for the purpose of determining— a the entitlement of the woman to a maternity allowance under section 35 of the 1992 Act; or b the rate at which that allowance is to be paid to the woman, in a case where the first day of the period in respect of which payment of that allowance is to be made is on or after the day on which these Regulations come into operation. Amendment of the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 3 In regulation 21 of the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987 (normal weekly earnings), after paragraph (7) add— 8 Paragraph (9) applies where for all or part of the relevant period— a a woman is a furloughed employee; b the woman’s employer has claimed and is in receipt of financial support in respect of the woman’s earnings under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and c the woman’s earnings are lower than they would otherwise have been as a result of that woman being a furloughed employee. 9 Where this paragraph applies, the woman’s normal weekly earnings are to be calculated as if, during the parts of the relevant period when the woman was a furloughed employee, she was paid the amount which she would have derived from her employment had she not been a furloughed employee. 10 For the purposes of paragraphs (8) and (9)— “Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme” (“the Scheme”) means any scheme to provide for payments to be made to employers on a claim made in respect of them incurring costs of employment in respect of furloughed employees arising from the health, social and economic emergency in the United Kingdom resulting from coronavirus and coronavirus disease and contained in such Directions as may be issued from time to time pursuant to section 76 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 ; “coronavirus” and “coronavirus disease” have the meanings given in section 1 of that Act; “furloughed employee” has the meaning given for the purposes of the Scheme. . Amendment of the Social Security (Maternity Allowance) (Earnings) Regulations 4 In regulation 6 of the Social Security (Maternity Allowance) (Earnings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 (determination of average weekly amount of specified payments), after paragraph (3) add— 4 Paragraph (5) applies in respect of a week where– a a woman is a furloughed employee; b the woman’s employer has claimed and is in receipt of financial support in respect of the woman’s earnings under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme; and; c the woman’s earnings are lower than they would otherwise have been as a result of the woman being a furloughed employee. 5 Where any of the weeks in the period of 13 weeks referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) is a week to which this paragraph applies, the average weekly amount of the specified payments are to be determined as if for that week she were paid the amount she would have derived from her employment had she not been a furloughed employee. 6 For the purposes of paragraphs (4) and (5)— “Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme” (“the Scheme”) means any scheme to provide for payments to be made to employers on a claim made in respect of them incurring costs of employment in respect of furloughed employees arising from the health, social and economic emergency in the United Kingdom resulting from coronavirus and coronavirus disease and contained in such Directions as may be issued from time to time pursuant to section 76 of the Coronavirus Act 2020; “coronavirus” and “coronavirus disease” have the meanings given in section 1 of that Act. “furloughed employee” has the meaning given for the purposes of the Scheme. . Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department for Communities on 24th April 2020 (L.S.) Anne McCleary A senior officer of the Department for Communities The Commissioners of Inland Revenue hereby concur Justin Holliday Angela MacDonald Two of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue 23rd April 2020