National Insurance cards

[mikeonabike]

I've just caught upon the final episode of the excellent Very English Scandal. One thing I didnt understand was the significance of Scott's NI card having gone missing, so he found it difficult to get a job. Couldn't he simply have got a replacement?

Is there anyone on the forum who was working in the 60s and can enlighten me?

[mjr]

I wasn't quite working in the 60s but when I started, the paperwork with my NI card left me in no doubt that I should not lose it, else I could lose all my contributions ("stamps") up to that point - I guess that's what Norman Scott was worried about, as he'd worked for someone for a while but left in dispute and then "worked" for Thorpe. If he didn't get his cards back, it would be as if he hadn't worked before, reducing his pension and benefit entitlements.

While it's easier and you no longer need to be "given your cards" and state pension ain't what it used to be, I understand that recovering a lost NI number still isn't trivial and you have to send forms in by post with various details and possibly attend an interview at one of the increasingly rare Job Centres with various documents in an attempt to prove one's identity. I wonder what they'd make of Norman Scott's case now!

[[XAP]Bob]

There's a gap between losing the card and losing the number though.

I wonder where my card is....

[Mick F]

Mrs Mick F has a card, but I've never had one.
Dunno what they're for in a practical way. I've never needed one, and although Mrs Mick F has one and can't remember where or when she got it, she only uses it so she knows her NI number.

As I don't have one, I remember it and can recite it if required.
When I was in the RN, I didn't have to keep looking at my service certificate or my identity card to know my service number.
Do you have to look at your date of birth on your birth certificate to know your birthday?

What's the NI card for?
If you forget the number, ask your health centre.

[RickH]

Mrs Mick F has a card, but I've never had one.

I've never had one either. I don't think I ever saw one until the kids were old enough to get theirs.

I know my NI number off by heart if I need it for anything.

[[XAP]Bob]

Mrs Mick F has a card, but I've never had one.
Dunno what they're for in a practical way. I've never needed one, and although Mrs Mick F has one and can't remember where or when she got it, she only uses it so she knows her NI number.

As I don't have one, I remember it and can recite it if required.
When I was in the RN, I didn't have to keep looking at my service certificate or my identity card to know my service number.
Do you have to look at your date of birth on your birth certificate to know your birthday?

What's the NI card for?
If you forget the number, ask your health centre.

It’s a number I use very infrequently.
When I do need it I grab the closest payslip...

[Username]

There's a gap between losing the card and losing the number though.

I wonder where my card is....

My card went west a very long time ago. My actual NI number is on my payslips aswell as in my brain*. The reason its in my brain was because of my lack of employment, and the amount of times I had to use my NI number while skiving on the dole looking for suitable work has left its mark on the inside of my head.


*A void between my ears

[rjb]

i lost mine years ago. Got a vague memory of one being issued to me made from plastic resembling a credit card. Dont know what became of it.
Funnily enough when sorting through my dads effects i came across his issued by the RN with his service number, filed away with a warning about keeping it safe, along with a NI card indicating he would receive a state pension.

[mjr]

I'm of the plastic card generation too, but before 1975 they were actual cards. Here's one from 1940:

[Spinners]

Mrs. Spinners has a plastic credit card sized NI card but mine is just plain card. I think she got an upgrade when she married me

[landsurfer]

Never had one ... Never needed one ..

[Tiberius]

Never had one ... Never needed one ..

+1.....

[mikeonabike]

Never had one ... Never needed one ..

+1.....

+1 for me too, which perhaps unfairly led me to the impression that Scott was a bit of a drama queen in being so obsessed about his card.

mjr, thanks for that example from 1940, it surely belongs in a museum! But by the 1960s computers had been invented, and wasn't there someone in an office in Newcastle collating all the NI receipts and marking up individuals' records, so that a lost card could be replaced?

[mjr]

I think it was also seen as proof of right to work by then, or at least proof that someone else had employed them, which maybe some people would doubt about a man then calling himself Josiffe.

[Flinders]

In the 80s you used to need both your NI number and a 'schedule D' number if you were self-employed, so that a company that was paying you a fee on an S/E basis for a service didn't pay NI and tax for you, as you'd be paying that for yourself. I certainly don't get asked for a schedule D number any more, I wasn't even given one when I returned to S/E after a short break as PAYE, but these days I provide goods rather than services.