To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason his Department has not published statistics on nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of working age benefit recipients since 2020.
Answered on
17 January 2024
Following the publication of the annual Nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of DWP working age benefit recipients statistics in August 2021, the Department announced in 2022 that it would be ceasing publication of these statistics. This was due to an assessment that concluded these statistics no longer met the purpose for which they were created. The information contained in the release reflected the nationality status of the benefit claimants at the point of National Insurance number (NINo) registration, which does not necessarily reflect the nationality at the point of claiming the benefit, as the allocation of a NINo can be made many years, or even decades, before an individual claims a benefit. Therefore, claimants who have since obtained British citizenship could still have been counted in those statistics as non-UK nationals.