Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (Persons Abroad and Mariners) Regulations 2025.

(2) These Regulations come into force on 6 April 2025.

(3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

“foreign-going ship” means any ship or vessel which is not a home-trade ship;

“general regulations” means the Statutory Neonatal Care Pay (General) Regulations 2025(3);

“home-trade ship” includes—

“mariner” means a person who is or has been in employment under a contract of service either as a master or member of the crew of any ship or vessel, or in any other capacity on board any ship or vessel where—

but does not include a person insofar as their employment is as a serving member of HM’s forces;

“serving member of HM’s forces” means a member of a regular force or reserve force (“M”) as defined, in each case, by section 374 (definitions applying for purposes of the whole Act) of the Armed Forces Act 2006(4), unless—

“statutory neonatal care pay” means statutory neonatal care pay payable in accordance with the provisions of Part 12ZE of the Act where the conditions specified in section 171ZZ16(2) of the Act are satisfied.

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, the expressions “ship” and “ship or vessel” include hovercraft, except in regulation 9(2).

Application

3. These Regulations apply in relation to children who are born on or after 6th April 2025.

Restriction on scope

4. A person who would not be treated under regulation 14 (treatment of persons as employees) of the general regulations as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE (statutory neonatal care pay) of the Act if that person’s employment were in Great Britain will not be treated as an employee under these Regulations.

Treatment of persons in EEA states as employees

5. A person who is—

(a)gainfully employed in an EEA state in such circumstances that, if the employment were in Great Britain, the person would be an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act, or a person treated as such an employee under regulation 14 of the general regulations, and

(b)subject to the legislation of the United Kingdom under

(i)6) of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security systems to employed persons and their families moving within the Community, or

(ii)Regulation 7), on the coordination of social security systems

as those instruments apply in the European Economic Area from time to time,

notwithstanding that person not being employed in Great Britain, is to be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act.

Treatment of certain persons absent from Great Britain as employees

6. Subject to regulation 9(2), where a person, while absent from Great Britain for any purpose, is gainfully employed by an employer who is liable to pay secondary Class 1 contributions (within the meaning of section 1(2) of the Act) in respect of that person’s employment under section 6 of the Act(8) or regulation 146 of the Social Security Contributions Regulations 2001(9), that person will be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act.

Entitlement to statutory neonatal care pay where person has worked in an EEA state in the 26 weeks preceding the relevant week

7.—(1) A person who—

(a)is an employee or treated as an employee under regulation 5,

(b)in the relevant week, was in employed earner’s employment with an employer in Great Britain, and

(c)had, in any week within the period of 26 weeks ending with the relevant week, been employed by the same employer in an EEA state,

is to be treated for the purposes of section 171ZZ16 of the Act (entitlement to statutory neonatal care pay) as having been employed in employed earner’s employment with an employer in those weeks in which the person was so employed in the EEA state.

(2) In paragraph (1), “relevant week” has the same meaning as in section 171ZZ16(6) of the Act.

Time for compliance with Part 12ZE of the Act or regulations made under it

8. Where—

(a)a person is outside the United Kingdom,

(b)Part 12ZE of the Act or regulations made under it require any act to be done forthwith or on the happening of a certain event or within a specified time, and

(c)because the person is outside the United Kingdom that person or that person’s employer cannot comply with the requirement,

the person or the employer, as the case may be, will be deemed to have complied with the requirement if the act is performed as soon as reasonably practicable.

Mariners

9.—(1) A mariner engaged in employment on board a home-trade ship with an employer who has a place of business within the United Kingdom will be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act, notwithstanding that the mariner may not be employed in Great Britain.

(2) A mariner who is engaged in employment—

(a)on a foreign-going ship, or

(b)on a home-trade ship with an employer who does not have a place of business within the United Kingdom,

will not be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act, notwithstanding that the mariner may have been employed in Great Britain.

Continental shelf

10.—(1) In this regulation—

(a)“designated area” means any area which may from time to time be designated by Order in Council under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964(10) as an area within which the rights of the United Kingdom with respect to the seabed and subsoil and their natural resources may be exercised;

(b)“prescribed employment” means any employment (whether under a contract of service or not) in a designated area in connection with continental shelf operations, as defined in section 120(2) of the Act(11).

(2) A person in prescribed employment will be treated as an employee for the purposes of Part 12ZE of the Act notwithstanding that that person may not be employed in Great Britain.