Agent asking for NI number

[Wanderer]

I was asked to provide NI number today, wasn't sure what to do but found this official advice

Safe jobseeking | nidirect

Refer them to that website.....

[Eirikur]

Varying reasons such as ID checking you are not an illegal, client requires it as part of process, compliance reasons etc.

One can be an illegal with an NI number. Everyone on a temporary workpermit can get one. A copy of visa/workpermit would be a better indication whether someone is legal or not.

I don't see any reason for contractors (and permies for that matter) to give NI numbers in advance of a contract being signed. they may need it later for security checks.

[DirtyDog]

Reed Elsevier requires every candidate sent to them to have been uploaded against their national insurance number. Just because this prevents any duplication because everyone has a unique 9 digit number.

Well they are wasting their time, since NI number isn't unique.

[GlenW]

Well they are wasting their time, since NI number isn't unique.

That's news to me!
I have always thought they were.

[NickFitz]

That's news to me!
I have always thought they were.

It's a government scheme dreamed up in the Second World War. What's the likelihood that they've managed to operate it correctly for all those years?

My Dutch ex had a load of hassle as she'd been given a previously-used NI number when she first came to the UK. As she worked as an au pair for her first three or four years here, there wasn't anything to make the system notice. Then her au pair job came to an end and she got a "real" job, and it took several weeks to sort out her NI because of the number being associated with somebody else's records. They explained that people who came here specifically as au pairs were usually given a number from a pool for foreign nationals that got recycled, as the vast majority only worked in au pair roles that didn't involve paying NI, and returned to their own countries within a year or two. In the end, they had to give her a new number to sort it out.

So in at least some corners of the system, it is - or has been - official policy to assign the same NI number to more than one person at different times.

[DirtyDog]

It's a government scheme dreamed up in the Second World War. What's the likelihood that they've managed to operate it correctly for all those years?

My Dutch ex had a load of hassle as she'd been given a previously-used NI number when she first came to the UK. As she worked as an au pair for her first three or four years here, there wasn't anything to make the system notice. Then her au pair job came to an end and she got a "real" job, and it took several weeks to sort out her NI because of the number being associated with somebody else's records. They explained that people who came here specifically as au pairs were usually given a number from a pool for foreign nationals that got recycled, as the vast majority only worked in au pair roles that didn't involve paying NI, and returned to their own countries within a year or two. In the end, they had to give her a new number to sort it out.

So in at least some corners of the system, it is - or has been - official policy to assign the same NI number to more than one person at different times.

Dutch au pair?!?!?

[ASB]

Well they are wasting their time, since NI number isn't unique.

This is true. Dates back a long time. Curiously here:-

HM Revenue & Customs: Applying for a National Insurance number

"Your National Insurance number is your own personal account number. It is unique to you and you keep the same one all your life."

But those allocated temporary numbers pre about 2001 had no guarantee at all they were unique. Those allocated manually eons ago regionally did cause duplicates. Caused lots of problems sorting out in the early days as systems because centralised; though I doubt there any many duplicates out there now (at least in terms of the living).