A National Insurance Number is your own unique number that is used to  ensure you pay the correct national insurance and tax from your earnings from any employment.  For further details visit the Direct gov site.

UK nationals are issued with a National Insurance Number (NINO) when they turn sixteen.  If this applies to you the information below will be irrelevant as you should already have a NINO.

Students applying for Student Finance England Funding

If you are a UK national or an EU/EEA national and you have never been issued with a NINO and you are applying for Student Finance England funding, the Student Loans Company can arrange for you to attend an appointment with the DWP in order for you to apply for one. However you need to make an application for student funding in order for this to happen.  Therefore do not delay making your application just because you do not have this number. Alternatively if you are looking for work you can apply for a National Insurance Number on this basis instead of waiting for the Student Loans Company to arrange an appointment for you.

Students looking for work

Even if you are not applying for student funding but you are looking for work or in work, you should also apply for a National Insurance Number. This applies to any student who does not already have a NINO e.g. International students, EU/EEA students. This is the number that links you to National Insurance contributions and the UK tax system.  If you do not have a NINO you may end up paying too much tax. For information about NINO'S visit the Directgov website.

How to apply

You can apply for a National Insurance number if you can show that you are looking for work or if you already have a job.

To apply for a National Insurance number (NINO) you will need to telephone the London NINO call centre on 0845 600 0643.  When you phone this number, you will hear a message in English and then in Welsh before you are put through to a person.

You will be asked for the following information when you phone:

• Your surname
• Your date of birth
• Your first names
• Your post code
• Whether you are working or
• Whether you are looking for work
• If you are working - Your employer’s name, postcode and phone number
• Your date of entry to the UK
• Whether you have been in the UK before
• Whether you have travelled out of the UK for longer than 28 days
  

The NINO call centre will give you an appointment time to go to one of five offices in London which deal with NINO applications.  You will normally be offered an appointment within the next eighteen days (often sooner) and you will be told what documents you need to take to the appointment.  If you are looking for work, you will need to take evidence of this, for example copies of application forms or letters and emails to employers.

Once you have attended the appointment it can take several weeks for your NINO card to be sent to you, but you will get a letter with your NINO within two to four weeks.  In the meantime, you are allowed to work and the Jobcentre will send you a letter to confirm that you have applied.  Your employer can deduct contributions on a temporary basis while you are waiting.

Please note that you must look after your NINO card very carefully when you get it.  If you lose it, you can only ever get a replacement once.  If you lose the replacement you cannot be issued with another card.  But you can still use your number without the card.

If you ever forget your number, you can find it out by calling in to any Jobcentre office with two forms of identity, one of which must be photographic, e.g. your passport.  The Jobcentre will be able to tell you your number on the spot.