National Insurance

Lord Marlesford
asked her Majesty’s Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord McKenzie of Luton on 29 March (HL2934), how many (a) national insurance contributions and (b) benefit payments were made during 2006 in respect of the approximately 76 million national insurance numbers held on the customer information system of the Department for Work and Pensions. [HL3131]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton)
The information is not available.

Lord Marlesford
asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many of the 76,719,264 national insurance numbers currently held by the Department for Work and Pensions customer information system are those of deceased persons; what is their policy on retaining national insurance numbers of deceased persons; and what arrangements there are for the registrar-general to notify the department of deaths. [HL3359]

Lord McKenzie of Luton
There are approximately 16.5 million national insurance numbers held on the DWP customer information system which relate to deceased persons.

At present, national insurance numbers are not removed if someone dies. This is because a partner may make a claim for a contributory benefit, which is dependent on the contribution record of the deceased individual. This means that the number of accounts held on the system accrues as national insurance numbers are allocated each year.

The DWP receives notifications of death from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for England and Wales, the general-registrar (Scotland) and the general-registrar (Northern Ireland) on a weekly basis. Dates of death are also received from next of kin in advance of notifications from registrars, particularly where social security benefits are in payment.

As part of the ONS modernisation programme, dates of death will be notified to DWP on a daily basis from March 2008.