Social contributions

Regular payments into a social insurance fund or equivalent. They can be either flat-rate or a percentage of wages and salaries or earnings. They can be paid by employers, employees, the self-employed, benefit recipients or others that are covered by social insurance. People who are not working and so not earning for a recognised justifiable reason, such as being unemployed, sick, in education or caring for children, may be exempted from paying contributions or have their contributions paid on their behalf or credited to them.