---

Immigration: National Insurance Numbers

My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. From July 2006, the Department for Work and Pensions will introduce a ““right to work”” condition into Jobcentre Plus' national insurance numbers (NINOs) allocation and decision-making process for employment-related applications. Regulation 9 of the Social Security (Credits & Treatment of Contributions & National Insurance Numbers) Regulation 2001 will be amended to enable this change. Any individual applying for a NINO in connection with employment who does not have the right to work here legally will be refused one. This change follows a review conducted by the department into the existing legislation governing the allocation of NINOs. Previous regulations since the 1948 Act was introduced establishing the national insurance system have never included a ““right to work”” condition. NINOs were never designed to act as evidence of an individual's identity or to confirm that people have the right to live or work in this country. Current legislation requires employers to check that an individual has the right to work under Section 8 of the 1996 Asylum & Immigration Act.