Contributions hiatus

In an appeal concerning an employee’s failure to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions (NICs) while working abroad from 1 September 1955 to 31 May 1964 the appellant argued that his ignorance or error was not ‘due to any failure on his part to exercise due care and diligence’.

The appellant who was in his early 20s for the periods in question admitted that he took absolutely no action in relation to his NICs in the lead up to his departure or while he was abroad in both Trinidad and Kenya.

He said he ‘simply had no knowledge’ that there were any enquiries he should have been making into his NICs and together with the lack of guidance from his employers academic distractions as well as failing to follow up an obscure note on the back of his previous NI cards ...