(2) Arrears of Contributions. THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE (ARREARS) REGULATIONS, 1918, DATED JUNE 28, 1918, MADE BY THE NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE JOINT COMMITTEE UNDER THE NATIONAL INSURANCE (HEALTH) ACTS, 1911 To 1918. 1918. No. 829. ARRANGEMENT OF REGULATIONS. PART I. General. 1. Short title and interpretation. 2. Revocation of previous Regulations. 3. Arrears not to accrue during period of sickness, &c. 4. Benefit year. 5. Contributions of person entering insurance in course of year. 6. Application to year of 53 weeks. PART II. Employed Contributors. 7. Reduction of benefits of employed contributors. 8. Surrender of contribution cards. PART III. Voluntary Contributors. 9. Reduction of benefits of voluntary contributors. 10. Allocation of contributions. 11. Period of grace. PART IV. 12. Duty of Society to give notice of arrears. 13. Period of 40 weeks under Section 18 (2) of the Act of 1918. 14. Number of weeks of employment under Section 22 (4) of the Act of 1918. 15. Time limit for notice of incapacity under Section 13 (4) of the Act of 1918. 16. Right of Society to terminate membership if arrears exceed prescribed amount. 17. Recalculation of arrears in certain cases. 18. Application to mercantile marine. 19. Seamen, soldiers and airmen. 20. Transition from voluntary to employed insurance. 21. Transition from employed to voluntary insurance. 22. Section 8 of principal Act and Section 12 (2) of Act of 1913. 23. Penalty on failure to pay levy, &c. 24. Arrears of married women. PART V. Modification of Regulations in their application to Ireland. 25. Employed contributors. 26. Voluntary contributors. 27. Outworkers. PART VI. Provisions applying to Transitional Period. 28. Arrears paid under Section 7 (1) of Act of 1913. 29. Calculation of arrears of employed contributors on 1st July, 1918. 30. Calculation of arrears of voluntary contributors on 1st July, 1918. 31. Calculation of arrears of married women on 1st July, 1918. 32. Benefits during transitional period. 33. Transitional arrangements in the case of mercantile marine. Short title and interpretation. The National Health Insurance Joint Committee, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by the National Insurance (Health) Acts, 1911 to 1918, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations: PART I. 1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Insurance (Arrears) Regulations, 1918. (2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the respective meanings hereby assigned to them: "The principal Act" means Parts I, and III. of the National Insurance Act, 1911(a); "The Act of 1913 " means the National Insurance Act, 1913(b); "The Act of 1918 ' means the National Health Insurance Act, 1918(c); "Half-year" means any period in respect of which contribution cards may be issued under any Regulations relating to the collection of contributions made under the principal Act and for the time being in force; "Contribution Year " means any period commencing in June or July, as the case may be, and comprising two consecutive half-years; (a) 1-2 G. 5. c. 55. (b) 3-4 G. 5. c. 37. (c) 7-8 G. 5. c. 62, "Society means an Approved Society and includes a branch of an Approved Society, the Dissolved Societies Fund and the Navy and Army Insurance Fund; 66 Employed" means employed within the meaning of the principal Act, and "Employment" and “ Employment" and "Unemployed shall be construed accordingly. (3) These Regulations relate only to insured persons who are members of Societies for the purposes of the principal Act, and the expression "Society in relation to an employed or voluntary contributor means the Society of which he is a member for those purposes. 2. The National Health Insurance (Arrears) Consolidated Revocation Regulations, 1916(a) and the National Health Insurance of previous (Arrears) Regulations, 1916 (No. 2)(b) are hereby revoked, with- Regulations. out prejudice to any right, penalty, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under either of those Regulations. 3. For the purpose of calculating under these Regulations the Arrears not number of any contributions paid by or in respect of an insured to accrue person, contributions shall be treated as having been paid in during period of respect of each complete week comprised in any period during sickness, &c. which, under Section 3 of the National Insurance (Part I. Amendment) Act, 1917, (c) or under Section 18 (3) of the Act of 1918, no account is to be taken of arrears accruing, and if that period exceeds one or more complete weeks by four days or more, such days shall be treated as a week. (2) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of Section 18 (3) aforesaid (a) notice shall be deemed to have been given within the (b) in the case of any period in respect of which no benefit 4. The period within which the reduction or suspension of Benefit year. benefits shall take effect (in these Regulations referred to as the "benefit year ") shall be a period from the first Monday in January in any year to the Sunday immediately before the first Monday in January in the succeeding year, both days inclusive: Provided that (i.) if a Society makes application for that purpose to the Commissioners, the Commissioners may authorise the (a) Printed St. R. & O., 1916, II., p. 83. (b) Ibid., p. 102. Contribu tions of person entering insurance in course of year. Application to year of 53 weeks. Reduction of benefits of Society to fix for the commencement of the benefit year such other day or days in the first week in January as the Society thinks fit; and (ii) if a Society shows to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that it has not been the practice of the Society to pay sickness benefit to members generally on one or more fixed days in the week, the Commissioners may, if they think fit, authorise the Society to adopt such procedure as will secure that, where sickness or disablement benefit is payable to a member in respect of any period (not being longer than a week) which falls partly in one benefit year and partly in another, the whole of the period in respect. of which the benefit is paid shall, for the purpose of calculating the rate of benefit payable, be treated as falling within the earlier of the two benefit years. 5. In the case of a person becoming an insured person after the commencement of a contribution year, contributions shall, for the purpose of ascertaining his position with respect to arrears at the end of the contribution year be deemed to have been paid in respect of the period between the commencement of the contribution year and the date of his entry into insurance. 6. In the application of these Regulations to a contribution year comprising 53 weeks every reference in the Regulations or in the Schedules thereto to a number of contributions paid or payable for the contribution year shall be read and have effect as if the number were increased by 1. PART II. Employed Contributors. 7. (1) If the number of contributions paid by or in respect of an employed employed contributor for any contribution year is more than 25, contributors. the rate of any sickness benefit payable to him during the succeeding benefit year shall be the rate appearing in column (2) or (4), as the case may be, in Part I. of the First Schedule to these Regulations opposite to the group of numbers in column (1), which comprises the number of contributions paid by or in respect of him for the contribution year, and the rate of any disablement benefit payable during the same period shall be the rate appearing in column (6) opposite to the said group of numbers: Provided that, if the number of contributions paid is less than 48, he shall be entitled, within the period hereinafter mentioned, to pay to the Society by way of cancelling arrears a sum (in this Article referred to as the " appropriate sum ") ascertained in manner hereinafter mentioned or any less sum being 1s. or a multiple of 1s. (or, in the case of a woman, 6d. or a multiple of 6.); and, if the appropriate sum is so paid, the rates of sickness and disablement benefits payable to him shall be the same as if 48 or more contributions had been paid by or in respect of him for the contribution year, or, if any such less sum is so paid, the benefits shall be payable at the rates appearing in columns (2), (4) and (6) of Part I. of the said Schedule, opposite to the amount in column (7) or (8), as the case may be, which is equal to the difference between the appropriate sum and the amount actually paid. The appropriate sum in respect of any particular number of contributions paid for a contribution year shall be the sum appearing in column (7) (or, in the case of a woman, column (8)) of Part I. of the Schedule opposite to the group of numbers which comprises the number of contributions paid for the contribution year. (2) If the number of contributions paid by or in respect of an employed contributor for any contribution year is 25 or less he shall be suspended from sickness, disablement and maternity benefits during the succeeding benefit year: Provided that upon payment by him to the Society during the period hereinafter mentioned of the sum of 7s. 6d. (or, in the case of a woman, the sum of 5s.) no suspension or reduction of benefits shall be made, and upon payment of any such less sum as would reduce the sum of 7s. 6d. (or, in the case of a woman, 5s.) to one of the amounts appearing in column (7) or (8) of Part I. of the said Schedule, as the case may be, maternity benefit shall be payable at the full rate and sickness and disablement benefit shall be payable at the rates appearing in columns (2), (4) and (6) of Part I. aforesaid, opposite to the amount in column (7) or (8) to which the sum of 7s. 6d. or 5s. has been so reduced. (3) The foregoing provisions of this Article, so far as they relate to sickness benefit, shall apply to an employed contributor who by reason of the fact that 104 weeks have not elapsed since his entry into insurance and less than 104 contributions have been paid by or in respect of him is entitled to a lower rate of sickness benefit, with the substitution of the rates of benefit appearing in the columns (3) and (5) for those appearing in columns (2) and (4) of Part I. of the said Schedule. cards. 8. Save as provided in Part I. of these Regulations, a con- Surrender tribution shall not be deemed to have been paid by or in respect of of a contributor whose contributions are payable by means of contribution affixing stamps to contribution cards until a contribution card to which a stamp has been duly affixed has been surrendered to the Society, but the contributor shall not be entitled to make any payment under this Part of these Regulations by way of cancelling arrears, until contribution cards to which stamps have been duly affixed in respect of any period of employment comprised in the contribution year have been surrendered by him to the Society. PART III. Voluntary Contributors. 9. (1) If the number of contributions paid by a voluntary Reduction of contributor for any contribution year is more than 38, the rate benefits of of any sickness benefit payable to him during the succeeding voluntary contributors. benefit year shall be the rate appearing in column (2) or (4), 6979 L 2 |