HC Deb 12 March 1999 vol 327 c396W
Mr. Duncan Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people living abroad continue to pay voluntary national insurance contributions; and how many people not resident in the UK have built up sufficient national insurance contributions to entitle them to(a) jobseeker's allowance, (b) incapacity benefit, (c) the state pension, (d) widows' benefits and (e) maternity allowance. [75848]

Mr. Timms

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is set out here.

There are 30,000 requests to pay voluntary National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on an annual basis; 15,000 requests to pay voluntary NICs by Direct Debit (per annum); 7,000 requests to pay voluntary NICs by Employers (on their employees' behalf) and 13,000 customers who contact us (per annum) and request to pay NIC arrears.

Note:

The figures are approximate and rounded to the nearest thousand.