No obligation to aggregate employee’s earnings for National Insurance purposes

The taxpayer was an ambulance driver and worked for two companies SWAST and NSL in 2014-15. In November 2016 he claimed employment and support allowance but the Department for Work and Pensions said he had not paid enough National Insurance in 2013-14 and 2014-15 to qualify.

HMRC explained to the taxpayer that the combined earnings from separate employments could not be used to calculate weekly earnings for National Insurance purposes. It issued a decision showing his earnings and National Insurance for 2014-15 and the taxpayer appealed. The notice showed that no contributions were paid on his NSL earnings and only about £27 on his SWAST income.

The issues before the First-tier Tribunal were whether HMRC’s decision on the taxpayer’s contributions paid in 2014-2015 was correct and whether his earnings from both employers should have been aggregated thus increasing his earnings for NIC purposes.

On the first issue the tribunal...