Unemployment Benefit Widowed Mother’s Allowance Widowed Parent's Allowance Widow’s Pension National Insurance number To administer the National Insurance system, a National Insurance number is allocated to every child shortly after their birth when a claim to Child Benefit is made. People coming from overseas have to apply for a NI number before they can qualify for benefits, though holding a NI number is not a prerequisite for working in the UK. An NI number is in the format: two letters, six digits and one further letter or a space. The example used is typically QQ123456C. It is usual to pair off the digits - such separators are seen on forms used by government departments (both internal and external, notably the P45 and P60). National Insurance and PAYE Service National Insurance contributions for all UK residents and some non-residents are recorded using the NPS computer system (National Insurance and PAYE Service). This came into use in June and July 2009 and brought NIC and Income Tax records together on one system for the first time. The original National Insurance Recording System (NIRS) was a more archaic system first used in 1975 without direct user access to its records. A civil servant working within the Contributions Office (NICO) would have to request paper printouts of an individual's account which could take up to two weeks to arrive. New information to be added to the account would be sent to specialised data entry operatives on paper to be input into NIRS. NIRS/2, introduced in 1996, was a large and complex computer system which had several uses. These included individual applications to access or update an individual National Insurance account, to view employer's National Insurance schemes and a general work management application. There was some controversy regarding the NIRS/2 system from its inception when problems with the new system attracted widespread media coverage. Due to these computer problems, Deficiency Notices (telling individuals of a possible shortfall in their contributions), which had been sent out on an annual basis prior to 1996, stopped being issued; the Inland Revenue took several years to clear the backlog. As a result, many customers were unaware whether they had incomplete years of contributions towards their State Pension. Contribution rates – employees As noted above, the employee contribution was a flat rate stamp until 1975. After this, the rates have been as follows: On 7 September 2021, the government announced