§ Mr. John MacDougallTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how the combination of letters and numbers in national insurance numbers are arrived at. [103072]
§ Malcolm Wicks[holding answer 14 March 2003]: The current system of National Insurance number prefixes was introduced through the departmental central index (DCI) in 1988.
A National Insurance number (NINO) consists of a two letter prefix followed by six numbers between 0 and 9, and a one letter suffix. There is no particular reason for the format of a particular NINO, nor does it carry any particular meaning. Only the first two prefixes, provide an indication of when the number was created. The number itself bears no relation to the individual it is allocated to and contains no geographical or personal significance. Allocations are made on a last digit numerical sequence (e.g. AB000001A would be followed by AB000002A).
602WCertain letters, such as D, F and I are not used as there is the potential for confusion with other letters if badly formed. Likewise, the letter 0 is not used as the second letter as it might be confused with the number 0 (zero).