NATIONAL Insurance
numbers, the nine-character monickers the state gives as 16th birthday
presents to young Britons, are now being awarded at birth, giving babies
their own individual computer file.
Depending on political taste or the level of personal paranoia, the
move can be either welcomed as bringing a new, efficient edge to the
cradle-to-grave philosophy of the welfare state, or feared as a further
step towards a national identity card, Big Brother watching over us and
The Prisoner screaming: ''I am not a number!''
It is, however, impossible to find out the rationale behind the move
because yesterday it was being denied that any change had taken place.
Calls to the Department of Social Security in London were referred to
the Contributions Agency headquarters on Tyneside, where a spokeswoman
insisted: ''As far as NI numbers go there has been no change at all in
the way they are issued, which is shortly before a person's 16th
birthday.''
But concerned social security staff have told The Herald that they
were surprised to discover babies being allocated the recognisable
two-letter, six-digit, one-letter identifier.
The spokeswoman confirmed: ''There are in some cases child reference
numbers and people may be assuming these are full NI numbers.''
While accepting that these numbers ''can be'' of the AB 12 34 56 C
format, she insisted: ''These are not NI numbers. They are just
reference numbers for children. We are aware that, in the same way
mothers receive child benefit numbers, children are now being allocated
a child reference number, but they don't serve any purpose.''
This is flatly contradicted by civil servants handling claims. One
told The Herald that, while processing a claim on computer, a prompt
flashed up on screen demanding the insertion of the NI number of a child
involved. The shocked civil servant was told that all children are now
being allocated NI numbers.
A check revealed that the numbers given to babies and young children
are identical to those presently being allocated to 16-year-olds --
current numbers begin with the letter J -- and appear to be intended as
numbers for life.
Anyone accessing the computer need only insert the first few letters
of a surname, the forename initial, and the date of birth to call a file
up on screen. This now applies to children too but parents are not told
about this or asked to supply the information, such as home address.
The London civil liberties organisation, Liberty, had heard of no such
extension of the NI identification system to include children. A
spokeswoman there said: ''We share with the SCCL the view that this is
not what we want to see. Any introduction of extensions to the system
without people knowing about it is wrong, and moves towards what appears
to be a national identity card system is not a road we would want to go
down.''
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