Article 1 Citation, commencement, interpretation and extent

This Order may be cited as the Social Security (Reduced Rates of Class 1 Contributions, Rebates and Minimum Contributions) Order 2006 and shall come into force on 6th April 2007.

In this Order—

• “the 1993 Act” means the Pension Schemes Act 1993;

• “the Northern Ireland Act” means the Pension Schemes (Northern Ireland) Act 1993;

• “the low earnings threshold”, in relation to a tax year, means the low earnings threshold for that tax year as specified in—

  1. (a)

     section 44A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992^f1 (deemed earnings factors); or

  2. (b)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, section 44A(5) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992^f2 (deemed earnings factors);

• “qualifying earnings factor”, in relation to a tax year, has the same meaning as in—

  1. (a)

     section 122(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (interpretation); or

  2. (b)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, section 121(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (interpretation);

• “the upper earnings threshold” means 3LET minus 2QEF, where—

  1. (a)

     3LET means the amount produced by multiplying the low earnings threshold by 3; and

  2. (b)

     2QEF means the amount produced by doubling the qualifying earnings factor and rounding the resulting figure to the nearest whole £100 (taking any amount of £50 as nearest to the previous whole £100);

• “relevant tax year” means any of the following tax years—

  1. (a)

     2007-2008;

  2. (b)

     2008-2009;

  3. (c)

     2009-2010;

  4. (d)

     2010-2011;

  5. (e)

     2011-2012.

These provisions of this Order extend to England and Wales and Scotland—

These provisions of this Order extend to Northern Ireland—