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.''