{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/statutory-maternity-pay-persons-abroad-and-mariners-regulations-northern-ireland-1987/note",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/statutory-maternity-pay-persons-abroad-and-mariners-regulations-northern-ireland-1987/note.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1987/171",
  "legislation_title": "The Statutory Maternity Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/statutory-maternity-pay-persons-abroad-and-mariners-regulations-northern-ireland-1987",
  "path": "note",
  "kind": "note",
  "number": null,
  "heading": "Explanatory note",
  "text": "(This note is not part of the Regulations.)\nThese regulations provide for statutory maternity pay (under Part VI of the Social Security (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 (“the Order”)), in relation to persons abroad and women who work as mariners. They correspond to provision contained in regulations made by the Secretary of State for Social Services in relation to Great Britain and accordingly, by virtue of section 10(2) of, and paragraph 21 of Schedule 3 to, the Social Security Act 1980 (c. 30) are not subject to the requirement of section 10(1) of that Act for prior reference to the Social Security Advisory Committee.\nUnder Article 51(1) of the Order, a woman is not, as a rule, an “employee” and therefore qualified to receive statutory maternity pay, unless she is employed in Northern Ireland. Regulation 2 makes exceptions to that rule for women employed in a member State other than the United Kingdom but subject to the legislation of the United Kingdom. This and the other exceptions made by the regulations are, however, overridden by regulation 3, which provides that the woman is not to be treated as an employee if she would not be so treated if her employment was in Northern Ireland.\nRegulation 4 provides that liability to pay statutory maternity pay shall not arise in respect of any week within the maternity pay period in which a woman is outside the European Community, or for any subsequent week in that period.\nWhere a woman has worked for the same employer both in Northern Ireland and in a member State other than the United Kingdom, regulation 5 permits her, in specified circumstances, to have her employment in that member State treated as though it was employed earner's employment.\nSome of the provisions relating to statutory maternity pay impose time limits, but these are relaxed by regulation 6 in their application to persons who are outside the United Kingdom and for that reason cannot comply with them.\nRegulation 7 treats certain mariners as employees for the purposes of entitlement to statutory maternity pay.\nRegulation 8 provides that the maternity pay period is not to commence, or if commenced, is to end, where a woman is outside the European Community. This regulation does not apply where the absence is due to the woman's employment as a mariner.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1987/171/note",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T03:21:31.639589+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}