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(9436) Social security contributions made by the self-employed

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WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY BY DEPUTY S.Y. MÉZEC OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 24TH MAY 2016

Question

Could the Minister provide the number of people who were registered with her department as being self- employed each year for the past 5 years, as well as how much was raised in Class 2 Social Security contributions for each of those years?

Answer

The Social Security system requires working age adults to be registered as either class one or class two and to pay contributions accordingly. An individual is registered as class one if they are employed for eight hours or more a week. All other groups of working age people are registered as class two. This includes individuals who are self-employed, but also other groups such as individuals who have a private income, people who have retired and other people who are not working. Some individuals with no or a very low income can apply to be exempted from making class two contributions.

The number of individuals registered as class two and paying contributions over the last five years is shown in the table below. This provides the detail of the number of people who made class two contributions for every month throughout the whole of the year in question, and an additional number who made class 2 contributions for some months but not all of that year. For example, this would include an individual who moved from employment into self-employment during the year.

 

Type

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Class 2 paid for full year

3100

3111

3076

3079

3172

Class 2 paid for part year

1928

1799

1756

1850

1753

Grand Total

5028

4910

4832

4929

4925

The contributions collected from this group are published each year in the departmental annual report and are shown in the second table.

 

Year

2011

2012

2013

2014

Total of Class 2 contributions below SEL (£000)

16,169

15,544

14,971

15,802

Total of Class 2 contributions above SEL (£000)

 

1,974

2,136

2,159

Total Class 2 Contribution (£000)

16,169

17,518

17,107

17,961

Note: contributions above the Standard Earnings Limit (SEL) were introduced in 2012. The figures for 2015 will be published as part of the 2015 Annual Report.

A major review of the sustainability of the Social Security Fund is currently in the planning stage and a public consultation is scheduled for later this year. As part of the review we will be looking at the level of contributions paid by the self-employed. The full review will last several years but the section on self-employed contributions will be one of the first areas to be examined in detail.