Wood Group Engineering (North Sea) Ltd v The Commissioners for HMRC
Decision date: 22 December 2025
Neutral citation: [2025] UKFTT 1607 (TC)
Overall AI summary confidence: high
Short overview
This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.
AI confidence in this short overview: high
The Tribunal dismissed Wood Group Engineering (North Sea) Ltd's appeal and upheld HMRC's assessment that WGENS was a "host employer" under paragraph 9, Schedule 3, SSCER 1978 for 2011/12–2012/13, making it liable for secondary Class 1 NICs. The Tribunal found WGOS was a foreign employer whose employees’ personal service was made available to and rendered for WGENS' business, with WGENS exercising sufficient control over deployment and compliance. The HEP can apply without a legal secondment or exclusive provision of services to the host and without an apportionment mechanism where multiple potential hosts exist.
Ratio decidendi
This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.
AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: high
The binding ratio is that the Host Employer Provision applies where a foreign employer’s employees’ personal service is made available to and rendered for the business of a host employer; the provision does not require a formal secondment or direct employment by the host, and control is a relevant factor in a multi-factorial assessment (which may be satisfied by rights over location, deployment and compliance with host policies) rather than an independent statutory requirement.
Obiter dicta
This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.
AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium
The Tribunal suggested (obiter) that the HEP functions as an anti-avoidance measure to prevent offshore employment structures avoiding NIC liability, and that conventional employment-status tests (mutuality/control) do not determine HEP application where the statutory language governs.