Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the role of National Insurance numbers was in the delivery of the Coronavirus Job Retention scheme.

In the context of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, National Insurance Numbers (NINO) were, and are, used for additional verification of employees, including to help protect against fraud.

Employers were required to provide the NINO of an employee they wished to place on furlough at the stage of making a claim.

In exceptional cases where an employee did not need or have a NINO, employers were able to contact HMRC to claim for them. Further exception procedures were applied to larger employers.