Thanks for that Classicdriver. The goalposts seem to be moving by the day. There are definitely CX crews in the UK paying tax but not NI. When the department dealing with NICs was recently contacted they said that NICs only applied if you worked for a UK based company. Even if they wanted NICs, there are currently no procedures in place to effect collection.
However, CX have just issued a briefing paper in which they mention the collection of NICs. If that is the case, CX must be setting up onshore, which means that they will be liable for NICs just like their employees. Unless, of course, the tax people, with whom CX have been in discussion, are introducing a policy that the NIC folk do not yet know about. This latter would not surprise me. The notion of joined up government from this sorry lot exists only in their imagination. If the latter is the case, the ramifications for other operators into the UK are immense. If offshore companies are to be made to pay NICs, then there is a sound economic case for closing the UK base and opening another one in a less onerous jurisdiction.
Such is the desperation of Brown and his satraps to gather in more of our hard earned cash, they are even talking about taxing cabin crew who receive cash allowances in London. They do that in India. So does every offshore business that operates through the UK have to declare the expenses of all who pass through. The Treasury mandarins have clearly taken leave of their senses.
So, for now, confusion reigns.