Eat Out from £5

• Annex 4: Applicant claiming benefit and falsifies a genuine Immigration document eg (!eave to remain; right to claim benefits etc). Liaison between NINO Allocation operational staff and Benefit Adjudication staff would ensure that benefit not paid and no NINO allocated. Details would be passed to IND for them to take appropriate prosecution action.

5. A number of other salient points were raised at the meeting in respect of NINO Allocation policy, and it’s worth re-emphasising these:

· The NINO does not in itself constitute a right to work in the UK (despite perceptions to the contrary)

• There are circumstances where a NINO can be allocated to an individual without there being a right to work (eg the foreign partner of a UK national claiming benefits or tax credits would still need a NINO for that purpose, even if his / her immigration status denied them the right to work). Therefore, if there were any changes proposed to NINO Policy, we would need to take account of such situations.

• The onus of establishing an individual’s right to work rests with employers. This aspect was strengthened by changes to Section 8 of the 1996 Immigration & Asylum Act which reduced the role of the NINO in this respect.

• HMRC has a duty to collect Tax and National Insurance Contributions from all employees irrespective of their immigration or right to work status. DWP is obliged to allocate a NINO even under those circumstances if the individual is in employment. Regulation 9, Social Security (Crediting and Treatment of Contributions and National Insurance Numbers) Regulations 2001 stipulates that employed earners should obtain a NINO. It makes no allowance for those who may be employed illegally. However, under such scenarios, DWP has established processes in place to advise IND so that they can take any appropriate action as necessary.

6. I hope this is useful. Should you have any further queries regarding the content of this note, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Annex 1

NINO Prosecution Cases

Applicant Already in Employment

Scenario 1: where applicant has falsified a genuine Immigration Document:

• Applicant requests NINO

• DWP satisfied with applicant’s Identity? Yes.

• Applicant has falsified a genuine Immigration document (eg amending right to work / leave to remain etc)

• NINO allocated to allow HMRC to collect NI contributions

• Suspect information passed to CCU DET

· Document confirmed to have been falsified? Yes

• Case passed to NIFU for consideration.

• NIFU confirm document has been falsified and arrange for DCI to be flagged so that we pick up on any future claims to benefit (to which applicant may not be entitled) — addressing threat to benefit system.

• NIFU pass details to IND via legal gateway for their consideration and action of the Immigration-related offence.

• Therefore, IND should be in charge of this scenario as the offence relates to Immigration issues as opposed to NINO allocation / proof of identity.

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