[2024] UKUT 251 (AAC)

The claimant resists the appeal. His representative argues that the very essence of the salary sacrifice scheme in which the claimant participated was that any amounts ‘sacrificed’ never formed part of his gross earnings for tax or National Insurance purposes.

Rather, the salary sacrifice arrangement involved the claimant agreeing to a reduced entitlement to cash earnings in exchange for a non-cash benefit (in other words, a benefit in kind), namely an employer contribution to his occupational pension scheme. The entirety of the £6.55 ‘EE Pension Salary Sacrifice’ amount should, therefore, be excluded from the calculation of the claimant’s ‘earnings’ in accordance with regulation 95(2) of the ESA Regulations.

As such, the claimant says, the First-tier Tribunal made no error of law, its decision should be confirmed, and the appeal should be dismissed.