Yeah, nice one Shadwell. Thanks for the info.
I knew a Thomson rep a while ago who voluntarily paid NI just in case she fell ill overseas - oddly enough like an insurance policy! - but not income tax because she was out of the country for 'the balance' of her year.
She said that she had to be careful not to stop in the UK over a set number of days a year - think it was about a month - otherwise she would pay income tax as a resident. While this means OOA dets - even army length - wouldn't count, embassies and RAFLOs perhaps shouldn't pay. But then is this when we can conveniently invoke the 'embassy is sovereign territory' thing?
Either way, I think a determined individual might eventually win a case, but might as well then quit with a troublemaker label firmly attached. Moreover, any benefits won would only be recovered by a reduction in LOA, LSA etc - it's the way of the world. Well, the British world.