Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support people with refugee status who are unable to work due to delays in accessing national insurance numbers during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Home Office has bespoke arrangements with the Department for Work and Pensions to allocate national insurance numbers (NINOs) to refugees. This process has continued to operate throughout the pandemic and has not been subject to delays.

An individual’s NINO is printed on their biometric residence permit (BRP). We are aware of a recent a technical issue that delayed the production of a small number of BRPs. That issue has been resolved and measures put in place to prevent it from happening again.

It is possible to start work without a National Insurance number if you can prove you have a right to work in the UK. You can also still apply for benefits.