HC Deb 27 October 1982 vol 29 cc432-3W
Mr. Richard Wainwright

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will announce plans to change the regulations which prohibit the refund of National Insurance contribution payments to individuals whose annual income can be proved to have been lower than the limit at which such payments become necessary; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Rossi:

If the hon. Member is referring to employed earners whose class 1 contributions in a given year are too few to count towards their pension, refunds to such people would run counter to the normal principle of the national insurance scheme that liability for contributions arises when payments are made. People in this situation can, in any case, top up their contributions by paying voluntary class 3 contributions, so that all the contributions they have paid for that year count for pension purposes. If he is thinking of self-employed people whose profits subsequently turn out to be below the level of the small earnings exception from class 2 liability, such people can apply for an exception to be backdated, but only up to 13 weeks. Thus, subject to this limited possibility of backdating, a self-employed person knows, when contributions become due, whether or not he is liable to pay them.

To apply the exception retrospectively on the basis of actual profits would mean that there could be no final

Distribution of health manpower: United Kingdom 1981
Per 10.000 population
General medical practitioners Hospital doctors*(Wte)† General dental practitioners Nursing and midwifery staff*(Wte)‡
ENGLAND 5.21 6.87 2.74 83.8
Northern 4.94 6.90 1.98 84.2
Yorkshire 5.08 6.28 2.42 84.0
Trent 4.79 5.97 2.07 76.1
East Anglia 5.26 6.21 2.46 74.1
North West Thames 5.87 8.46 4.17 83.7
North East Thames 5.33 7.88 2.94 87.7
South East Thames 5.27 7.13 3.09 87.8
South West Thames 5.39 6.51 3.78 84.7
Wessex 5.39 5.70 2.80 77.2
Oxford 5.09 6.20 2.77 71.0
South Western 5.51 5.67 3.24 85.1
West Midlands 5.00 6.09 2.27 79.0
Mersey 5.18 6.79 2.50 91.2
North Western 5.11 7.43 2.36 89.1
WALES 5.51 6.79 2.27 90.3
SCOTLAND 6.50 9.64 2.58 118.9
NORTHERN IRELAND 5.75 9.32 2.58 121.1
UNITED KINGDOM* 5.35 7.18 2.70 88.4

Notes:

* Figures include staff working in London post-graduate teaching hospitals.

†Excludes locums, hospital practitioners and paragraph 94 appointments.

‡Includes agency staff and health visitor students.

║ Figures for England and United Kingdom are provisional.