To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what protection is in place to prevent fraudulent use of National Insurance numbers when individuals share the same name and date of birth.
Answered on
20 November 2018
HMRC issue a National Insurance number to an individual shortly before they reach their sixteenth birthday. The process ensures that no two individuals can be issued with the same number, even where they share the same name and date of birth. Where an individual has not been allocated a National Insurance number by HMRC, they can apply to DWP who will undertake a face to face interview to establish their identity and check entitlement to a number. This again ensures a National Insurance number cannot be issued to more than one person.
In each case, a National Insurance number will be unique to each individual and remain the same for life. Both HMRC and DWP take seriously any attempts to use the National Insurance number fraudulently and have a range of measures in place to counter abuse wherever it occurs.