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Offences in relation to employment contributions.
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[1993, s. 27]
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214.—(1) If an employer—
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(a) fails to pay at or within a prescribed time any employment contribution which he is liable under Part II to pay,
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(b) deducts or attempts to deduct the whole or any part of any employer's contribution in respect of a person from that person's remuneration,
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(c) makes a deduction from the remuneration of a person in respect of any employment contribution which the employer is liable under Part II to pay and fails to pay at or within a prescribed time the employment contribution in respect of which the deduction was made, or
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[1990, s. 9]
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(d) adjusts the method of payment of reckonable earnings to an employed contributor who was employed in consecutive weeks in order to ensure that the employed contributor is exempted in any week from the employment contribution payable under section 10(1) (b)(i) by virtue of section 10(7)(a) and regulations made thereunder,
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the employer shall be guilty of an offence.
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[1993, s. 27]
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(2) An employer, or a servant or agent acting on behalf of such employer, who, for the purpose of evading or reducing the amount of his liability in respect of employment contributions which he is liable to pay under Part II and which he has not paid—
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(a) knowingly makes any statement or representation (whether written or verbal) which is to his knowledge false or misleading in any material respect, or knowingly conceals any material fact, or
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(b) produces or furnishes, or causes or knowingly allows to be produced or furnished, any document or information which he knows to be false in a material particular,
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shall be guilty of an offence.
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[1987 (No. 2), s. 6]
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(3) Where records are required to be kept by employers under, regulations made under section 14(5) in so far as they relate to the recording of payment of earnings and the periods to which such earnings refer such records shall be recorded at or before the time of payment of such earnings.
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[1993, s. 28(2)]
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(4) A person who fails to comply with subsection (3) shall be guilty of an offence.
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[1993, s. 27]
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(5) A person who is guilty of an offence under this section (other than an offence under subsection (1)(d)) shall be liable—
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(a) on summary conviction, to the penalties provided in section 218(1)(a), or
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(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000 or such amount as is equivalent to twice the amount so unpaid or deducted, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years, or to both.
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[1990, s. 9]
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(6) A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1)(d) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000 or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding £10,000.
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[1993, s. 27]
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(7) (a) Where an employer has been convicted under this section of the offence of failing to pay any employment contributions which he is liable under Part II to pay, he shall be liable to pay to the Social Insurance Fund a sum equal to the amount which he has failed to pay and, on such conviction, if notice of the intention to do so has been served with the summons or warrant, evidence may be given of the failure on the part of the employer to pay other employment contributions in respect of the same person during the 3 years preceding the date when the notice was so served, and on proof of such failure the court may order the employer to pay to the Social Insurance Fund a sum equal to the total of all the employment contributions which he is so proved to have failed to pay, and the employer's right of appeal against the conviction under the section shall include a right to appeal against such an order.
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(b) Any sum paid by an employer under this subsection shall be treated as a payment in satisfaction of the unpaid employment contributions, and the insured person's portion of those employment contributions shall not be recoverable by the employer from the insured person.
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[1993, s. 27]
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(8) Nothing in this section or in regulations under this section shall be construed as preventing the Minister from recovering by means of civil proceedings any sums due to the Social Insurance Fund.
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