Selective Employment Payments Act 1966

Selective employment premium

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• (1) Where an employer has paid selective employment tax for any contribution week in respect of a person in an employment to which this section applies, then, subject to the provisions of section 7 of this Act, the Minister of Labour shall make to the employer in respect of that person and that week a payment of an amount equal to the tax paid plus—

• (a) if that person was treated for the purpose of the tax as a man over the age of eighteen, seven shillings and sixpence; or

• (b) if that person was treated for that purpose as a woman over the age of eighteen, three shillings and ninepence; or

• (c) if that person was treated for that purpose as a boy under the age of eighteen, three shillings and nine-pence ; or

• (d) if that person was treated for that purpose as a girl under the age of eighteen, two shillings and sixpence.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3) of this section, this section applies to any employment in, or carried out from, an establishment where—

• (a) the establishment is engaged by way of business wholly or partly in—

• (i) activities falling under any of the minimum list headings shown in Orders III to XVI of the Standard Industrial Classification; or

• (ii) activities by way of the manufacture from exposed film of cinematograph films for public exhibition; or

• (iii) scientific research relating to such activities as aforesaid in which that or an associated establishment is engaged; or

• (iv) training relating as aforesaid ; and

• (b) more than half of the employed persons employed in any employment in, or carried out from, that establishment—

• (i) are so employed wholly or mainly in connection with such activities, research or training as aforesaid ; and

• (ii) are not so employed wholly or mainly in nonqualifying activities,

or where the establishment is certified by the Minister of Technology to be engaged in scientific research relevant to such activities as are mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection or the Minister of Labour is satisfied that the establishment is engaged in training which is so relevant.

• (3) This section does not apply to employment by an employer to whom section 3 or 4 of this Act applies or to any excepted employment.

Selective employment refund

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• (1) Where an employer has paid selective employment tax for any contribution week in respect of a person in an employment to which this section applies, then, subject to the provisions of section 7 of this Act, the appropriate Minister shall make to the employer in respect of that person and that week a payment of an amount equal to the tax paid.

• (2) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, this section applies to any employment which, not being employment to which section 1 of this Act applies, is employment in, or carried out from, an establishment where—

• (a) the establishment is engaged by way of business wholly or partly in activities such as are mentioned in any one of paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (3) of this section; and

• (b) subject to subsection (4) of this section, more than half of the employed persons employed in any employment in, or carried out from, that establishment—

• (i) are so employed wholly or mainly in connection with those activities ; and

• (ii) are not so employed wholly or mainly in nonqualifying activities,

or where the appropriate Minister is satisfied that the establishment is engaged in scientific research relevant to the activities mentioned in paragraph (e) of the said subsection (3) or in training relevant to any activities mentioned in that paragraph or in paragraphs (a) to (c) of that subsection, or the establishment is certified by the Minister of Technology to be engaged in scientific research relevant to any activities mentioned in the said paragraphs (a) to (c).

• (3) The activities referred to in subsection (2)(a) of this section are—

• (a) activities falling under any of the following minimum list headings in the Standard Industrial Classification, namely—

• (i) heading 003 (which relates to fishing);

• (ii) any heading in Order II (which relates to mining and quarrying);

• (iii) heading 602 or 603 (which relate to electricity and water supply); and

• (iv) any heading in Order XIX (which relates to transport and communication) other than heading 709;

• (b) activities by way of the extraction of coal from open cast workings;

• (c) activities by way of the operation of road transport for the purposes of another establishment which is both an associated establishment and an establishment such as is mentioned either in section 1(2) of this Act or in subsection (2) of this section ;

• (d) activities, research or training such as are mentioned in section 1(2)(a) of this Act, or a combination of such activities, research or training and any activities such as are mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection;

• (e) activities falling under minimum list heading 001 or 002 in the Standard Industrial Classification which shall respectively be treated for the purposes of this Act as including all activities falling within the definition in section 10(1) of this Act of agriculture or, as the case may be, of forestry.

• (4) For the purposes of the application of this section in relation to any activities other than activities falling under minimum list heading 703 in the Standard Industrial Classification, the definition of non-qualifying activities contained in section 10(1) of this Act shall have effect as if paragraph (b) of that definition were omitted.

• (5) For the purposes of this section, the appropriate Minister in relation to any employment to which this section applies shall be determined by reference to the activities of the establishment in or from which that employment is carried out and—

• (a) where those activities fall under any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of subsection (3) of this section, shall be the Minister of Labour;

• (b) where those activities fall under paragraph (e) of the said subsection (3), shall be—

• (i) if the establishment is situated in England or Wales, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; or

• (ii) if the establishment is situated in Scotland, the Secretary of State.

• (6) This section does not apply to employment by an employer to whom section 3 of this Act applies or to any excepted employment

Payments to certain public bodies

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• (1) This section applies to the following employers, namely—

• (a) any body specified in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act;

• (b) the Postmaster General.

• (2) Where any employer to whom this section applies has paid selective employment tax for any contribution week in respect of employed persons employed by him otherwise than in any part of his business which is specified in Part II of the said Schedule 1, the designated Minister may make to that employer in respect of those persons and that week, at such time and in such manner as that Minister or (where that Minister is not the Treasury) that Minister with the consent of the Treasury may determine, a payment of an amount appearing to that Minister to correspond—

• (a) if those persons' employment for that week was employment in any such part of an undertaking as is specified in Part III of that Schedule, to the amount of the tax paid with the appropriate additions specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section 1(1) of this Act; or

• (b) in any other case, to the amount of the tax paid.

• (3) Where under subsection (2) of this section a payment would fall to be made by the designated Minister to a company such as is mentioned in paragraph 14 of Part I of the said Schedule 1, that Minister may, if and subject to such conditions as he thinks fit, make that payment to the body, or to such as he thinks fit of the bodies, referred to in paragraphs 9 to 13 of the said Part I of which that company is, or is treated for the purposes of the said paragraph 14 as being, a subsidiary.

• (4) In this section, the expression " the designated Minister ", in relation to any employer, means such Minister as the Treasury may designate in relation to that employer, and the expression " Minister " includes the Treasury.

Payments to local authorities, etc.

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• (1) This section applies to an employer who is of any of the following descriptions, namely—

• (a) a local authority, that is to say—

• (i) in England or Wales, the council of a county, county borough, London borough or county district, the Greater London Council, the Common Council of the City of London or the Council of the Isles of Scilly;

• (ii) in Scotland, a local authority within the meaning of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947;

• (b) an authority all of whose members are appointed or elected by one or more local authorities ;

• (c) an authority the majority of whose members are appointed or elected by one or more local authorities and in the case of whom, by virtue of any enactment—

• (i) the authority have power to issue a precept to a local authority in England or Wales or a requisition to a local authority in Scotland ; or

• (ii) a local authority are or can be required to contribute to the authority's expenses;

• (d) the Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District or the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis;

• (e) the development corporation established for a new town or the Commission for the New Towns ;

• (f) the Scottish Special Housing Association;

• (g) statutory water undertakers within the meaning of the Water Act 1945 (other than for the purposes of Part II of that Act only);

• (h) an internal drainage board within the meaning of the Land Drainage Act 1930.

• (2) The appropriate Minister may make to any employer to whom this section applies such payments, at such times, and subject to such conditions, as he may with the consent of the Treasury think fit by reference to the amounts paid by way of selective employment tax in respect of employed persons employed by that employer in employments to which section 2 of this Act does not apply.

• (3) The appropriate Minister may, with the consent of the Treasury, direct with respect to any employer to whom this section applies or who is of any class of such employers specified in the direction—

• (a) that, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the direction, employed persons of any class so specified who are not employed by that employer or by a charity within the meaning of section 5 of this Act entitled to claim in respect of those persons under the said section 5 but who—

• (i) if that employer is the council of a rural district, are employed by the council of a parish or borough included in that district; or

• (ii) if that employer is an authority such as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (b) of this section, are employed wholly or partly within that employer's area in employment appearing to the appropriate Minister to be in a public service,

shall be treated for the purposes of this section as employed by that employer or, where there is more than one relevant employer, by such one, or to such extent by such one and to such extent by such other or others, of those employers as may be specified in the direction;

• (b) that, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the direction, employed persons employed by such an authority as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b) or (c) of this section shall be treated for the purposes of this section as employed by such one, or to such extent by such one and to such extent by such other or others, of the local authorities by whom members of that authority are appointed or elected as may be specified in the direction;

• (c) that any employment specified in the direction shall be left out of account for the purposes of this section.

• (4) In this section, the expression " the appropriate Minister " means—

• (a) in relation to an employer in Scotland or in Wales or Monmouthshire, the Secretary of State ;

• (b) in any other case, the Minister of Housing and Local Government.

Refunds to charities

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• (1) Where a charity has paid selective employment tax for any contribution week in respect of an employed person employed by the charity in an employment to which neither section 1 nor section 2 of this Act applies and which is not an excepted employment, then, subject to subsections (2) and (4) of this section and to the provisions of section 7 of this Act, the Minister of Labour shall make to the charity in respect of that person and that week a payment of an amount equal to the tax paid.

• (2) The Minister of Labour shall not be required to make any payment under subsection (1) of this section in respect of any selective employment tax paid for any contribution week as respects which the charity concerned does not produce such records of the payment of tax in respect of persons employed by that charity as that Minister may reasonably require.

• (3) In the application of this section to England and Wales the expression " charity " means a body who—

• (a) are registered under section 4 of the Charities Act 1960 ; or

• (b) are certified by the Charity Commissioners or the Secretary of State for Education and Science to be—

• (i) a charity within the meaning of that Act which by virtue of subsection (4) of the said section 4 is not required to be so registered ; or

• (ii) an ecclesiastical corporation within the meaning of section 45(2)(a) of that Act,

and includes Greenwich Hospital.

• (4) In the application of this section to Scotland, the expression " charity " has the same meaning as in the Income Tax Acts, and the Minister of Labour shall not be required to make any payment under this section to an employer unless the Secretary of State certifies, or on appeal from him the Court of Session finds, that the employer is a charity within that meaning; and in any such appeal the Secretary of State shall be entitled to appear and be heard.

Special refunds for certain households

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• (1) Where, in the case of any contribution week, an employer, not being a charity within the meaning of section 5 of this Act, pays selective employment tax in respect of an employed person employed by him in a qualified household for more than eight hours in the rendering of domestic or nursing assistance, and that employed person is not employed by the same employer in an employment to which section 1 or 2 of this Act applies, then, subject to subsection (3) of this section and to the provisions of section 7 of this Act, the Minister of Social Security shall make to the employer in respect of that person and that week a payment of an amount equal to the tax paid.

• (2) In the foregoing subsection, the expression " qualified household " means a private household—

• (a) which includes a person, not being the employed person, who is over the age of seventy ; or

• (b) which includes a person in need of such assistance as aforesaid by reason of being infirm, sick, or otherwise incapacitated for any reason, including pregnancy; or

• (c) (subject to subsection (5) of this section) which includes a child under the age of sixteen, not being a child of the family of the employed person.

• (3) No payment shall be made under this section unless the Supplementary Benefits Commission (or, on an appeal under subsection (4) of this section, the Appeal Tribunal) are satisfied that the requirements of subsection (1) of this section are fulfilled as respects the period in respect of which the payment is claimed; and no such payment shall be made in respect of more than one employed person in respect of the same period and the same household unless the Commission or Appeal Tribunal, as the case may be, are satisfied that there were special circumstances necessitating more than one person being employed as mentioned in subsection (1) of this section in that household in that period.

• (4) An employer aggrieved by the determination of the Supplementary Benefits Commission on a claim by him for a payment under this section may appeal therefrom to such of the tribunals constituted in accordance with Schedule 3 to the Ministry of Social Security Act 1966 as under that Schedule has jurisdiction in the case in question.

• (5) No payment shall be made by virtue of subsection (2)(c) of this section in respect of any household by reason of its including a child unless either—

• (a) that household includes one, but not more than one, member who is either a parent or the spouse of a parent of that child ; or

• (b) that household includes no such parent or spouse but—

• (i) includes a member who appears to the Supplementary Benefits Commission or, as the case may be, to the Appeal Tribunal to be discharging the functions of a parent with respect to that child ; and

• (ii) does not include a spouse of that member of the household,

and in either case that member of the household is normally engaged for more than eight hours weekly in work other than the domestic work of the household.

Registers, claims, determination of questions, etc.

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• (1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, each Minister by whom payments fall to be made in respect of persons in employments to which section 1 or section 2 of this Act applies shall compile and maintain registers showing every establishment which he is satisfied, or which it has been determined in pursuance of subsection (5) of this section, is for the time being such an establishment as is mentioned in subsection (2) of the said section 1 or 2, as the case may be; and the Minister concerned shall not be required to make any such payment in respect of any selective employment tax paid—

• (a) subject to subsection (2) of this section, for any contribution week falling wholly or partly before the date of registration of the establishment; or

• (b) for any contribution week as respects which the employer concerned does not produce such records of the payment of selective employment tax in respect of persons engaged in employment in, or carried out from, the establishment as the Minister concerned may reasonably require.