In Aramark Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 832 (TC) (12 September) the FTT found that the appellant company was liable to account for employer’s NIC under the so-called ‘host employer’ provisions in Social Security (Categorisation of Earners) Regulations SI 1978/1689 Sch 3 para 9 (as they applied before 6 April 2014).
The appellant A was a UK company which was part of a group headed by a US corporation. Its business included catering and hospitality services to offshore oil and gas installations in the North Sea. It provided personnel (the ‘crew’) goods and equipment including food and housekeeping materials to the operators of the installations and from 2004 it did so using resources provided by a non-UK group member (OSI). Under the agreement between A and OSI the employees previously employed by the appellant to service the contracts with operators were transferred to OSI....
