Thursday 01 April 2021
Employed people in Guernsey and Alderney with gaps in their contribution record due to having reduced earnings in the lockdown period from 23 January to 21 March 2021 will be awarded contribution credits and will not have to pay to plug the gaps.
This change will protect the employee's contribution record and their benefit entitlement, without the need to pay a voluntary contribution of £21.09 for any missing weeks.
Employees are eligible to be awarded a credit if they were employed at 23 January 2021 and were present in Guernsey for at least part of each week where they have a gap in their record during lockdown.
The Revenue Service will identify eligible customers and award credits for the period of lockdown without the customer having to do anything. Any employed customer who has been asked to make a voluntary contribution for missing weeks who believes they would be eligible for a COVID-19 credit is asked to make contact with the employer team by emailing schedules@gov.gg.
The Committee for Employment & Social Security approved this measure and its President, Deputy Peter Roffey, said:
"Lockdown has been difficult and disruptive for many employees. We wanted to be sure that employees did not see deficiencies in their contribution records where their employer was temporarily unable to provide them with paid work, or was paying them minimum wage with support through the Payroll Co-funding Scheme. This is why we agreed to protect their benefit entitlement by awarding contribution credits during the period of lockdown."
