Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 come into force

The Regulations make various amendments to the rules relating to statutory paternity pay and statutory adoption pay. They change the conditions of entitlement to statutory paternity pay (adoption) and statutory adoption pay for adoptions from overseas, to take account of differences between the procedures for domestic adoptions and those from overseas. They also modify the definition of the 'relevant week' for the purpose of the condition that a person's normal weekly earnings exceed the lower earnings limit for national insurance during the eight weeks ending with the relevant week. The relevant week becomes the later of the week in which official notification is sent and the week in which the person completes the qualifying employment condition. The Regulations can be viewed on the OPSI website.