Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Social Security Contributions (Freeports) Regulations 2022 and come into force on 6th April 2022.

Circumstances in which applicable conditions are treated as met

2. The applicable condition in section 2(1)(d) of the Act is treated as met in respect of a qualifying period where regulation 3 or regulation 4 applies.

Disability

3. This regulation applies where—

(a) the earner has the protected characteristic of disability as defined in section 6(1) of the Equality Act 2010( 3 ),

(b) the employer or the secondary contributor has made adjustments to the earner’s employed time spent in the special tax site in order to comply with the employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments in accordance with section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, and

(c) the applicable condition in section 2(1)(d) of the Act would be met but for those adjustments.

Pregnancy and maternity

4. —(1) This regulation applies where—

(a) the earner is pregnant or within a period of maternity,

(b) the employer or the secondary contributor has made adjustments to the earner’s employed time spent in the special tax site because of the pregnancy or because the earner is within a period of maternity, and

(c) the applicable condition in section 2(1)(d) of the Act would be met but for those adjustments.

(2) In this regulation—

(a) because of the pregnancy includes because of illness suffered by the earner as a result of it;

(b) period of maternity means the period of 52 weeks beginning with the day on which the earner gives birth;

(c) the day on which the earner gives birth has the same meaning as the day on which the woman gives birth in section 17(5) of the Equality Act 2010.