National Insurance Numbers

[Megs]

Does the letter at the end of your national insurance number carry any significance?

[Quizmonster]

Why not try to get a reply from "the horse's mouth"...the Department for Work & Pensions? If you click here, that will link you to their web-page which has a simple form for you to complete with your query. Just fill in the five blocks and click 'Submit' to e-mail them.

[apricot]

Many years ago when contributions were made by sticking stamps on cards the letter signified which quarter of the year the card would need renewing.

[Gef]

apricot is quite correct but I have a further question. Does my NI number end in a 'B' because I was born in May or because I had my first employment in the second quarter of the year?

[Moonhead]

As I work for the DWP I can tell you, that Apricot and Gef are right about the A,B,C and D standing for the quarters in the year back in the old days, but they no longer mean anything now. Or so my boss told me anyway.... :)

[jenstar]

That's odd, I was born in October and I have an A...

[colin salmon]

got to agree with jenstar i was born in january and my ni number ends in D

[apricot]

Born in June and mine ends with a C

[Quizmonster]

Given that I'm amongst the oldest handful of regular contributors to AnswerBank, how is it that mine is 'Z', despite my having been born in September?

If, as people seem to be suggesting here, only A/B/C/D now exist and that they refer to yearly quarters, what could 'Z' have represented in the 1950s? There has got to be more to this than quarters, I'm afraid.

[Moonhead]

I access hundreds of NI numbers everyday in work, and all numbers on our system end in a,b,c or d. No numbers ending with anything else, would work on our system, so I'm baffled as to why yours has a Z Quizmonster??

[trilobite]

I was thinking perhaps Tax Year quarters - but then I'm October too, but I'm a 'C' !!

[trilobite]

>> I'm a 'C' << Some people would also agree with that !!! ;o)

[Quizmonster]

Dear Moonhead, All I can say is that my NI number does end with a 'Z' and has done since it was issued to me in the early 1950s!

I don't know when the A/B/C/D system came into use but it certainly didn't apply 50 years ago. That's why I'd still love to find out what these letters actually did stand for, given that - whatever they mean now - they clearly had nothing whatever to do with yearly quarters back then.

(Of course, the reason you don't see such things in the course of your daily work is the fact that my age-group has now retired and is reaping the benefit of all these NI contributions!)

[seb brown]

I wondered about the letter on my NI, and noticed I am B, while my older brother is A. So thought it might be something to do with people per family. Most likely, it's just randomly generated though, or some mysterious government code....

[Monkey!]

The four letters relate to when you claim benefits should you be out of work, A is collected on Monday, B on Tuesday etc, there is no benefit claim on a Friday

[Moonhead]

Monkey - just got to say A-D doesnt have anything to do with the day you collect your giro etc. That is based on the bracket of benefit you fall in to.

[Monkey!]

Not talking about the current system Moonhead

[becks]

Mine's 34C at the end of my NI card...which is my bra size! don't think it was deliberate tho...

[pepper]

I was born in june 71 and my number ends with a D.. When did these numbers start? does anyone no!

[Lara1983]

I got told that in the event of a war, the letter at the end of your number determines how soon you are called up for action... I'm a D so I'm safe for a while...

[laurs]

My mums ends in a Z to! Also mine ends A my next sis ends B and next sis ends C, none of us are on benefits!!!