Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she estimates the National Insurance issuance service will resume a full service, following the temporary suspension of services as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

The National Insurance Number allocation service (NINo) has continued to offer a service, throughout the pandemic, to our most vulnerable customer groups (Benefit Applicants, Asylum Seekers and Refugees) Students who are entitled to Student Finance and in June we resumed our service for visa applicants.

DWP started testing a partial digital solution, on a small scale, in mid-October, to support the issuing of National Insurance Numbers, which is still ongoing. This solution enables collection of the applicant’s data, but not the online verification of their identity. Alternative identity verification solutions to reduce the need for a face to face identity check for some customer groups is under development as part of this test.

The digital solution will be considered by the Government Data Service (GDS) for its ability to move into Public Beta and thereby deliver a service to a greater number of customers early next year.

Given the uncertainty of COVID-19 restrictions impacting upon DWPs ability to offer an interview service to some customers who will still be required to attend an office to confirm their Identity, it is not possible at this time to provide you with a firm date as to when DWP are able to resume their full service.