Paul Haywood-Schiefer, a manager at Blick Rothenberg, said: “This can be particularly harsh for those doing short-term jobs.

“For instance, university students taking summer or festive period jobs in between university terms can end up paying national insurance on their wages even when they earn less than the threshold £9,568 per annum.”

Tory MP Damian Green said: “Any solution needs to be fair to people in different parts of the country and to people of different generations.

“We should not put the whole burden of paying for social care on the existing working-age population.

“The burden needs to be shared between the generations. Only using national insurance does not allow for that.”

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