Guidance

NINo allocations to adult overseas nationals entering the UK: background information and methodology

Updated 26 January 2024

Introduction

This document provides information about the methods and quality assurance steps used to produce the National Insurance numbers (NINo) allocated to adult overseas nationals statistical release in accordance with practices set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

In the UK a National Insurance number (NINo) is required for people to:

• work
• claim state or Housing Benefits
• apply for a student loan
• vote in local or national elections
• pay Class 3 voluntary National Insurance contributions

A NINo is a unique personal reference number that links an individual with their records of national insurance contributions, social security benefits, tax payments and student loans. Whilst the NINo is a unique personal number in isolation it is not proof of an individual’s identity, immigration status, right to work in the UK, nor does it confer entitlement to benefit.

A NINo is allocated to an individual either via His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC’s) Juvenile Registration scheme, or via the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service provided by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

HMRC provides UK residents with a NINo, via the Juvenile Registration scheme, in the 3 months to their 16th birthday, if they lived in the UK and a parent has filled a child benefit form for them. Individuals between the age of 16 to 19 years’ who fulfil these criteria and have not received their NINo are usually asked to get in contact with HMRC.

Individuals aged 19 years or over for whom child benefit was not claimed or lived abroad and returned to the UK as adults will need to apply for a NINo via the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service. Non-UK adult overseas nationals that move into UK must apply for a NINo via the same service, if they plan to work, apply for a student loan, or claim benefits. Alternatively, a subset of NINos are allocated to applicants who have been granted a visa by the Home Office. Both of these NINo applications are processed by DWP’s NINo application centre.

The majority of UK residents are allocated a NINo via the Juvenile Registration scheme and only a small number obtain their NINo via the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service. The Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service mainly affects adult non-UK overseas nationals who have a legal right to move to the UK and require a NINo for reasons outlined above.

The administrative data generated from the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service is analysed to produce the quarterly statistical publication on National Insurance Numbers Allocated to Adult Overseas Nationals. The NINo statistical publication is referred to as “NINo statistics” in this document.

The administrative data which underpins this publication is the Migrant Workers Scan (MWS) and it is sourced from the HMRC National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS).

Purpose of the statistics

The NINo statistics cover all adults allocated a NINo for any type of work – including the self-employed and students working part-time – irrespective of the length of stay in the UK (including short term).

Sourced from a 100% administrative dataset, the value of the statistics lies in the robustness of counts down to individual nationality and for each Local Authority (LA) (based on address at point of NINo registration). Personal characteristics such as gender and age band are also published via Stat-Xplore.

A time-series of NINo statistics (going back to 2002) supported by the quarterly statistical summary, provide some insights on migrant flows to the UK over time and for local areas and specific nationalities.

The NINo release forms part of a cross government release of migration statistics, details of which can be viewed via the GSS migration stats dashboard.

Limitations of the statistics

Users of these statistics should be aware of the following limitations:

• the registration date represents the date the NINo was registered on the source system, meaning, after the NINo application and allocation process has been completed. This may be a number of weeks or months after arriving in the UK, and therefore, the data cannot be used as a specific measure of arrival to the UK – (see the Data Journey and Data extraction sections for more information)

• there is no requirement, when allocating a NINo, to establish how long the individual intends to remain in the UK. NINo data does not measure outflow or overall count of overseas nationals in the UK. The data does not show if, or when, overseas nationals subsequently depart the UK, nor does it show length of stay in the UK. Therefore, these statistics should not be used alone as a measure of migration to the UK

• statistics are based on nationality at the point of NINo registration – subsequently people may change citizenship to become British nationals. Current citizenship is not shown within these statistics

• individual registrations are only counted once. NINo data does not include overseas nationals who had previously registered for a NINo and then returned to the UK after a spell abroad – for example, seasonal workers

• NINo data does not include partners or family members unless they subsequently go on to register for a NINo

• the figures reflect adult overseas nationals allocated a NINo through the adult registration process. In addition, there will be a small number of overseas nationals (aged 16 to 19 years) allocated a NINo through the Juvenile Registration scheme. This occurs when the individual has previously been allocated a child registration number. These juvenile cases are not captured by the statistics – nor are children

• for some nationality sub-groups seasonal patterns in the number of registrations are visible in the quarterly figures. However, these are often heavily disrupted by various changes to policy, operations and other events such as COVID-19. Seasonal effects can also be suppressed at levels of data higher than individual nationalities, due to different countries having opposing seasonal patterns

• the NINo statistics report only the volume of new NINo registrations. Information on subsequent activity against NINos in the form of employment, benefit, tax credits, NI contributions, tax are not available from this source

• individuals who were British overseas territory citizens by connection with Hong Kong were able to register their nationality as British Nationals Overseas (BNO) prior to 1997, and those who did not register as a BNO, and had no other nationality or citizenship became BNOs in July 1997, and therefore, may apply for a NINo with their nationality as BNO. The NPS dataset used to populate the MWS does not currently have the functionality to record a country code for BNO, and therefore these registrations are recorded as ‘unknown’ in the MWS dataset. As a result, individuals from Hong Kong who have their nationality as BNO will therefore appear as unknown in our statistics

Events impacting this statistical release

Operational differences during COVID-19 pandemic

On 17 March 2020, the majority of NINo processing and face to interviews for NINo applications were suspended. The applications awaiting a decision during this time (53,000) were ‘parked’ as a result of NINo staff being redeployed across DWP to help with the increasing number of claims to DWP benefits.

Processing on postal NINo applications made to the Home Office (Non-EU Nationals) resumed in late April and May 2020, however, Home Office applications account for only 20% of the total applications. In June 2020, processing resumed on the 53,000 ‘parked’ NINo applications (Non-EU and EU Nationals).

Apply for a NINo was introduced in the latter of 2020, but only made available to those with a visa (Non-EU Nationals) who received access to the service via an invitation. By December 2020, EU Nationals could access the service, but the number of applications remained restricted. These restrictions were lifted in April 2021, when Apply for a NINo was launched on GOV.UK.

Data issue: suspension of statistics between November 2021 until February 2023

This statistical series was suspended from the November 2021 release until February 2023 due to the identification of an underlying data issue which affected the provision of data sourced from the NPS (National Insurance and PAYE Service) for statistical purposes.

When the issue was resolved the first release to be published was in February 2023 and this contained a complete historic set of statistics from 2002 to December 2022, covering the period when the statistics were suspended.

Although the data issue was rectified, it was not possible to obtain some information from the NPS (National Insurance and PAYE Service) for the period from 1 July 2021 to 16 August 2022 which resulted in a small increase in the number of registrations with an unknown nationality for the period from 1 July 2021 to 16 August 22.

Because some statistical data from the NPS could not be obtained from 1 July 2021 to 16 August 2022 information was obtained from DWP Customer Information System (CIS). While the registration data from CIS is robust it doesn’t capture the same detailed information that is available from NPS and that is used in the recording of nationality. Consequently, there is a small increase in the number of registrations with an unknown nationality for the period 1 July 2021 to 16 August 2022.

EU exit

The Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020 ended free movement between the EU and the UK on 31 December 2020 and the Future Relationship treaty came into force, launching the new Points Based Immigration System.

The EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 established a cohort of citizens to whom the EU’s Regulations will continue to apply after the end of the Transition Period. This includes UK nationals living or working in the EU, EEA or Switzerland at the end of the Transition Period, while they continue to live or work in the EU, EEA or Switzerland and EU, EEA and Swiss citizens living or working in the UK at the end of the Transition Period. That cohort consists of anyone who remains in scope of the relevant categories covered in Title III of the Withdrawal Agreement. Subject to entitlement to benefit and “UK competency”, an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen who returns to an EU state, EEA state or Switzerland, will be able to continue export for as long as they remain in scope of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) determines which state’s social security legislation applies, ensures that an individual is only subject to a single state’s legislative regime at any one time, determines where contributions are due and which state is responsible for the payment of various social security benefits following the end of the Transition Period on 31 December 2020. The TCA provides for people who look to move between the UK and the EU after from 1 January 2021 for work or retirement, where they are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, meaning in some areas there is no change.

The Common Travel Area (CTA) is a long-standing arrangement between the UK, the Crown Dependencies (Bailiwick of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) and Ireland that pre-dates both British and Irish membership of the EU and is not dependent on it.  Under the CTA, British and Irish citizens can move freely and reside in either jurisdiction and enjoy associated rights and privileges, including the right to work, study and vote in certain elections, as well as to access social welfare benefits and health services.

Following UK’s exit from the European Union, EEA nationals face different migration regimes, depending on when they entered the UK. EEA migrants access to benefits depend on their arrival time in the UK:

• EEA nationals in UK before the end of the Implementation period (31 December 2020) are “protected” through the Home Office Settled Status scheme and Withdrawal Agreement/Citizens Rights offer and therefore do not see a change to their benefit access

• EEA nationals arriving from 1 January 2021 are not covered by the Withdrawal Agreement and will have no recourse to public funds for the first five years like non-EEA migrants; the new Points Based System immigration regime will apply to this group. Those arriving to join family members of EEA nationals who were in the UK before January 2021 will not be impacted by the measure

Other Government Department migration statistics

The ONS released ‘long term admin based population and migration estimates’ which uses the MWS data via RAPID as the main component of estimates of EU migration.

RAPID also provides estimates for non-EU nationals as a useful comparator to the Home Office Border Systems data. The latest estimates using RAPID were published in May 2023, covering the time period up to the year ending December 2022.

The next release of estimates up to the year ending June 2023 are due in November 2023. ONS will continue to update users on progress of the transformation to a new admin-based system.

It should be noted that although both NINo statistics and ONS ‘long term admin based population and migration estimates’ are sourced from MWS the statistics are non-comparable as the focus of the ONS release is on long term migration.

The GSS brings together information from across government on migration statistics into an experimental dashboard, which is regularly updated.

Data journey

NINo statistics are sourced from administrative data produced via the Adult NINo Allocation and Registration service.

NINo applications and identity verification

Apply for a NINo (AfN) is a digital NINo application service where users can apply for a NINo on-line. AFN was launched on GOV.UK in April 2021, following a trial phase from October 2020 to March 2021. The numbers able to apply for a NINo during this trial phase were restricted.

AfN replaces the previous NINo Application process which required the majority of applicants to attend an “Evidence of Identity” appointment at specified Jobcentre plus offices. Although some applicants are still required to attend an identity verification appointment, for the majority of applicants, DWP agents are now able to corroborate identity and right to work by conducting checks against other government department systems, removing the need for a face to face appointment.

AfN service is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Most users can complete their application in around 15 minutes, and this includes uploading copies of their identity and right to work documentation. DWP agents process the applications and once the Decision Maker has successfully conducted all the necessary checks and is satisfied that no NINo already exists, a NINo is allocated.

See further information on the NINo application process.

A subset of NINos are allocated to applicants who have been granted a visa by the Home Office. Their identities and right to work in the UK are verified during the visa process by the Home Office and lists of successful skilled worker visa applicants and refugees are sent directly to DWP’s NINo application centre on a daily basis. Agents in DWP manually create records on DWP and HMRC systems and return the NINo to the Home Office.

At DWP’s NINo centres, NINo applications are processed individually. Staff are fully trained and supported by clear guidance in making a decision when allocating a NINo.

NINo allocation

Once the NINo Decision maker has successfully conducted all relevant checks to corroborate identity and right to work/right to reside, and is satisfied that a NINo doesn’t already exist and decides that a NINo should be allocated, they record their decision to allocate a NINo in AfN.

This triggers the creation of a NINo record, with information from the AfN system automatically populating the relevant DWP and HMRC systems, (CIS and NPS) with no manual data input required.

Customer Information System (CIS)

Customer Information System (CIS) is a cross-government asset owned by DWP. It is the Master of Citizen and Customer Personal Details within DWP and performs the NINo allocation service, this means CIS holds the NINo stock and performs the NINo allocation. CIS is a data store which receives and shares data across the DWP estate and to authorised other government departments for the purposes of social security legislation and other legislative requirements regarding access to government services.

NPS (National Insurance & PAYE System)

NPS (National Insurance & PAYE System) is a HMRC system, playing a pivotal role in the processing of data for National Insurance (NI), Income Tax (PAYE) and State Benefits through the DWP.

NPS supports on-line Services to HMRC and DWP staff; online Services to citizens for pension forecasting; on-line Services to citizens via Government Gateway for PAYE Digital Platform; Batch Execution and processing for all NPS input and output related interfaces; Electronic message broadcast notifications via WebMethods Enterprise Service Bus (ESB); Output Services for the production of all NPS printed output and inbound/outbound mag media.

The NPS is a large and complex system regarded as the master of the citizen data for HMRC it comprises of several component products which are developed and supported by Accenture on behalf of HMRC (Customer Service Group). (Source: HMRC)

Data extraction

The Migrant Workers Scan (MWS) that provides the data source for the NINo statistics publication is extracted by HMRC from the NPS each quarter in the first week of January, April, July and October and is sent to DWP’s data team. Each MWS extract contains all NINos registered to adult non-UK nationals up to the extraction date.

Cleaning the raw data

DWP’s data team cleans and does initial quality checks on the raw MWS data (such as checking data volumes) and some initial processing (for example, encrypting identity information, replacing postcodes by census output areas (COA), encrypting the NINo variable etc.) and makes the Cleaned MWS available to the statistics team that produces the NINo Statistics publication. The statistics team fully quality assures the Cleaned MWS before it uses it to produce the NINo Statistics publication. The data team deletes the raw MWS after a short period of time. The quality assurance (QA) processes on MWS and the NINo Statistics by the statistics team are detailed later in this document.

NINo statistics and other government statistics on migration to the UK

As mentioned previously in this document, NINo statistics are part of a wider set of government statistics on migration into the UK. Some of these statistics are released on the same day as the NINo Statistics. The Migration statistics dashboard provides a coherent overall picture of all statistics on migration.

Governance

The provision and transfer of MWS data from HMRC to DWP is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding. This sets out both the legal basis for the transfer of data, the security arrangements within departments to handle the data, and the transfer mechanisms by which data is shared. The document also shows the DWP Business Case through which data is accessed and a description of the variables included in the scan see Data structure. DWP previously shared MWS data with ONS on HMRCs behalf but the data is now supplied directly by HMRC.

MWS data structure and methodology

Data structure

The raw data extract from HMRC contains the following fields:

Field	Note
NINo	National Insurance Number
Address and postcode	As held on HMRC NPS at time of data extraction
Arrival date in UK	As reported by the individual
NINo registration date	Date NINo was created on HMRC NPS system
Gender	Male/female
DOB	Date of birth
Nationality	As presented at interview e.g. based on passport or other evidence of identity

Note: The date of arrival in the UK as reported on the data scan is self-reported. The NINo publication does not include arrival date in the reported statistics.

Information such as personal characteristics on ethnicity, qualifications and economic activity are not available directly from the data source as this information is not required to process a NINo application.

Methodology

On receipt of the data scan from HMRC and prior to publication, the data is subject to a number of methodological processes and QA checks. Figure 2 provides a visual representation of these processes.

Data encryption and masking

The data received from HMRC is classified as unmasked; it contains unencrypted NINo and full address including postcode. In order to comply with DWPs data protection policy, the NINo is encrypted and the address and postcode are removed and replaced with a COA, a process called geocoding.

Geocoding

Each record in the MWS is put through a data cleansing procedure, which ensures all postcodes are formatted correctly and the address fields are populated correctly. Each record is allocated a 2011 COA using the ONSPD (ONS Postcode Directory), starting with a direct postcode to COA lookup and then working through a logical address allocation routine. Higher levels of geographies are built based on the assigned COAs.

From the February 2023 release we have improved our geography allocation method. Previously cases which existed on the data with missing COAs (approx. 5%) were randomly allocated a geography, but they are now labelled as having an unknown address at the point of registration and the historic backseries has been updated to consistency.

Additionally, from the February 2023 publication, an additional matching process has been implemented whereby, for all new registrations where the postcode is missing from the MWS scan or does not match to a COA in the geography file, an attempt is made to try and find an address via DWP’s Customer Information System (CIS). By matching with CIS we have found approximately two-thirds of cases with a missing address on the MWS are in fact ‘abroad’ when they register. These are probably NINo registrations that apply via Home Office route that don’t need to be resident in this county when they apply. Because of this extra level of data matching from July 2021, the geographies labelled as ‘unknown’ in the statistics should reduce, as we are now able to assign more of the ‘unknowns’ to the ‘abroad’ category due to information found via CIS.

Until November 2018, data had been published using geographies based on Census 2001 Output Areas (2001COAs) by matching to the ONS Postcode Directory (ONSPD) file, and the number of randomly allocated cases was around 2 to 3 percent. From February 2019, data is published under Census 2011 Output Areas (2011COAs) based geographies by matching to the National Statistics Postcode Look-Up file (NSPL).

For further information on changes to 2011 COA based geographies across DWP benefit statistics please see DWP statistical geographies in national and official statistics.

For more details please see guidance from ONS about census geographies, (including links to further information about the changes from 2001COAs to 2011COAs) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency’s online Small Area Look-up Tables and Guidance Documents.

Retrospection

Registrations from the latest reporting quarter are extracted and added to a master publication dataset that includes all the historic series (starting from January 2002). As the address recorded within the NPS is subject to change over time; using the master dataset for the historic series ensures that the published statistics more accurately reflect the address at the time of registration and is not subject to change.

Historic quarterly counts are checked within the latest data scan to ensure they are consistent with published data and that no new NINo registrations have been added retrospectively.

Nationality at point of NINo registration

The nationality variable is quality checked for completeness. Any registrations recorded with a nationality that no longer represents an existing country are reclassified to reflect the most appropriate nationality at the time of publication. For many registrations, this is reclassifying the nationality to the successor state (for example, East Germany to Germany). However, for nationalities which represent countries which underwent dissolution into multiple nations (for example the USSR), each entry has a nationality randomly reclassified in line with the proportion to the individuals who have registered from the new countries that used to make up the former country.

NINo registrations over state pension age

The MWS extract has been improved from July 2021 and now includes everyone from overseas who registers for a NINo that is over state pension age. Although these numbers are small, caution should be taken when observing historic trends as prior to July 2021 the MWS did not capture everyone over State Pension age.

Disclosure control

Introduced random error (perturbation) is used in Stat-Xplore to ensure that no data are released which could risk the identification of individuals in the statistics. All published figures (statistics bulletin and accompanying ODS tables) are a subset of the Stat-Xplore data, so perturbation is applied.

For further detail on perturbation methodology please see Stat-Xplore data confidentiality.

NINo statistics production and Quality Assurance (QA)

Initial data checks

Statisticians have close working relations with HMRC, DWP data loading team and DWP NINo application/policy teams to make sure that the MWS data is received on time and is accurate.

When the MWS data is received into DWP initial checks are carried out by the data loading team to ensure the data is accurate and fit for purpose:

• caseload counts are done, as well as checks on field format/sizes, as if the data does not match the original data specification it will not load correctly

When the data is loaded into SAS (analytical software package) DWP statisticians perform the following quality assurance checks:

• comparison of current quarters NINo registrations caseload with the caseload from previous quarters
• comparison of current quarters NINo registrations caseload with monthly Management Information (MI) of NINo registrations from DWP NINo application team
• frequency counts conducted against all of the fields contained in the data to check volumes against previous quarters
• checks to ensure no erroneous values/formats entered
• checks to look at daily distribution of new quarter’s data via “Date of NINo Registration”, as daily gaps not expected unless on a weekend or bank holiday
• checks to identify how many cases were unable to be matched to an address

If oddities exist, statisticians work with HMRC, DWP data loading team and DWP NINo application centre/policy team to provide context to any changes, or resolve issues, and subsequently repeat the quality assurance checks on any new and corrected data.

Quality Assurance of statistical data

When the checks are completed on the data which has been loaded into SAS. DWP statisticians run a sequence of data steps in SAS to create a final statistical dataset which is then used to source the published figures released via the bulletin and Stat-Xplore.

The various data steps perform tasks such as assigning lower-level geographies from census output areas (COAs).

The data checks of the statistical data carried out by DWP statisticians include:

• checks for any unexplained and unusual changes in trends within each data variable (for example nationality, region, local authority etc.)
• historical trend comparisons with quarterly and year to date data
• high level comparisons against other government department publications which also use MWS data.

Quality assurance of statistical products

Following production of the National statistics outputs, all publication material and data outputs are quality assured by someone else in the statistical production team. The outputs and processes are also quality assured, and peer reviewed by a limited group of experts that have authorised Pre-release access for the purpose of QA-ing the statistics. These QA and peer review activities are fully documented in a QA log.

The following activities are all part of the QA and peer review process:

• all SAS code involved in the production and QA process is checked for correct updates and error-free processing logs
• new sections of code are fully peer-reviewed, with related outputs independently recreated (often manually) and compared to original
• new data is checked against historic series for consistency and validation of views from the producer
• all stories and commentaries are checked for consistency with the statistics they refer to
• titles (including those of visualisations and tables), dates, statements and footnotes are checked to ensure they reflect the correct statistics and related times
• all products are spell and grammar checked
• graphs and tables are checked for data accuracy, technical aspects and presentation standards

Following completion of the QA and peer reviewing process the publication is presented to and signed-off by the Head of Profession for Statistics.

Statistical first release rounding policy

The following rounding policy has been applied to the statistical first release. Please note that all changes are calculated prior to rounding. Percentage changes are calculated prior to rounding and then are rounded to the nearest whole number. As all figures within the statistical summary have been rounded, they may not add up.

From	To	Rounded to nearest
0	1,000	10
1,001	10,000	100
10,001	100,000	1,000
100,001	1,000,000	10,000
1,000,001	10,000,000	100,000
10,000,001	100,000,000	1,000,000

Key historic events are shown in the graph labels used in the bulletin

Label on graph	Description
2004 – EU8 joined the EU	EU8 countries joined the EU, enabling freedom of movement for citizens of these countries to live, study or work anywhere in the EU.
2010 – Eurozone debt impact EU14	A debt crisis took place in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until the mid to late 2010s. Several eurozone member states (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, and Cyprus) were unable to repay or refinance their government debt, or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties e.g. other eurozone countries.
2014 – Lifting of transitional controls for EU2	In 2007, Romania and Bulgaria (the EU2) joined the EU. Transitional controls on movement to the UK were lifted in 2014.
2016 – EU referendum	EU referendum (commonly known as BREXIT referendum) took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) to ask the electorate whether the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU). As the majority voted to leave, the UK left the EU on the 31 January 2020, with the transition period ending on 31 December 2020.
2018 – Adult dependants of VISA applications	Individuals with long-term family members caring for them in UK eligible for VISA.
2020 – COVID-19	From March 2020, COVID-19 travel restrictions were implemented, and operational processes for applying for a NINo were impacted.
2020 – End of EU free movement	Free movement between nationals from any European Union member state and the UK ceased at 11pm on 31 December 2020, as it was not incorporated in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement or the Brexit withdrawal agreement

World area reporting structure – subgroups and nationalities

World region	Sub group	Nationality
Asia	East Asia	China
Asia	East Asia	Hong Kong
Asia	East Asia	Japan
Asia	East Asia	Macau
Asia	East Asia	Mongolia
Asia	East Asia	North Korea
Asia	East Asia	South Korea
Asia	East Asia	Taiwan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Afghanistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Bahrain
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Iran
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Iraq
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Israel
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Jordan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Kazakhstan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Kuwait
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Kyrgyzstan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Lebanon
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Oman
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Qatar
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Saudi Arabia
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Sharjah
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Syria
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Tajikistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Turkmenistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	United Arab Emirates
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Uzbekistan
Asia	Middle East and Central Asia	Yemen
Asia	South Asia	Bangladesh
Asia	South Asia	Bhutan
Asia	South Asia	British Indian Ocean Territory
Asia	South Asia	India
Asia	South Asia	Maldives
Asia	South Asia	Nepal
Asia	South Asia	Pakistan
Asia	South Asia	Sri Lanka
Asia	South East Asia	Brunei
Asia	South East Asia	Burma
Asia	South East Asia	Cambodia
Asia	South East Asia	East Timor
Asia	South East Asia	Indonesia
Asia	South East Asia	Laos
Asia	South East Asia	Malaysia
Asia	South East Asia	Philippines
Asia	South East Asia	Sabah
Asia	South East Asia	Sarawak
Asia	South East Asia	Singapore
Asia	South East Asia	Thailand
Asia	South East Asia	Vietnam
European Union	European Union EU15	Austria
European Union	European Union EU15	Belgium
European Union	European Union EU15	Denmark
European Union	European Union EU15	Finland
European Union	European Union EU15	France
European Union	European Union EU15	Germany
European Union	European Union EU15	Greece
European Union	European Union EU15	Ireland
European Union	European Union EU15	Italy
European Union	European Union EU15	Luxembourg
European Union	European Union EU15	Netherlands
European Union	European Union EU15	Portugal
European Union	European Union EU15	Spain
European Union	European Union EU15	Sweden
European Union	European Union EU2	Bulgaria
European Union	European Union EU2	Romania
European Union	European Union EU8	Czech Republic
European Union	European Union EU8	Estonia
European Union	European Union EU8	Hungary
European Union	European Union EU8	Latvia
European Union	European Union EU8	Lithuania
European Union	European Union EU8	Poland
European Union	European Union EU8	Slovakia
European Union	European Union EU8	Slovenia
European Union	European Union Other	Croatia
European Union	European Union Other	Cyprus
European Union	European Union Other	Malta
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Albania
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Andorra
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Armenia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Azerbaijan
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Belarus
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Bouvet Island
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Faroe Islands
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Georgia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Greenland
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Iceland
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Liechtenstein
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Macedonia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Moldova
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Monaco
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Norway
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Russia
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	San Marino
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Serbia & Montenegro
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Switzerland
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Turkey
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Ukraine
Non-European Union (Other Europe)	Other Europe	Vatican City
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Anguilla
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Antigua
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Antilles (Netherlands)
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Argentina
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Aruba and Curaçao
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Bahamas
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Barbados
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Barbuda
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Belize
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Bermuda
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Bolivia
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Brazil
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Cayman Islands
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Chile
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Colombia
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Costa Rica
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Cuba
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Dominica
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Dominican Rep
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Ecuador
Rest of the World	Central and South America	El Salvador
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Falkland Islands
Rest of the World	Central and South America	French Guiana
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Grenada
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Guadeloupe
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Guatemala
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Guyana
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Haiti
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Honduras
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Jamaica
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Martinique
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Mexico
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Montserrat
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Nicaragua
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Panama
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Paraguay
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Peru
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Sint Maarten (Dutch Part)
Rest of the World	Central and South America	South Georgia & South Sandwich Island
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Kitts and Nevis
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Lucia
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Pierre & Miquelon
Rest of the World	Central and South America	St Vincent & Grenadines
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Suriname
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Trinidad & Tobago
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Turks & Caicos Islands
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Uruguay
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Venezuala
Rest of the World	Central and South America	Virgin Islands (British)
Rest of the World	North Africa	Algeria
Rest of the World	North Africa	Egypt
Rest of the World	North Africa	Libya
Rest of the World	North Africa	Mauritania
Rest of the World	North Africa	Morocco
Rest of the World	North Africa	Sudan
Rest of the World	North Africa	Tunisia
Rest of the World	North Africa	Western Sahara
Rest of the World	North America	Canada
Rest of the World	North America	Puerto Rico
Rest of the World	North America	United States
Rest of the World	North America	Virgin Islands (USA)
Rest of the World	Oceania	American Samoa
Rest of the World	Oceania	Antarctic Territories (British)
Rest of the World	Oceania	Australia
Rest of the World	Oceania	Christmas Island
Rest of the World	Oceania	Cocos (Keeling) Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Cook Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Federated States of Micronesia
Rest of the World	Oceania	Fiji
Rest of the World	Oceania	French Polynesia (inc. Tahiti)
Rest of the World	Oceania	French Southern Territories
Rest of the World	Oceania	Heard Island & McDonald Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	New Caledonia
Rest of the World	Oceania	New Zealand
Rest of the World	Oceania	Niue
Rest of the World	Oceania	Norfolk Island
Rest of the World	Oceania	Papua New Guinea
Rest of the World	Oceania	Pitcairn
Rest of the World	Oceania	Samoa
Rest of the World	Oceania	Solomon Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Tokelau
Rest of the World	Oceania	Tonga
Rest of the World	Oceania	Tuvalu
Rest of the World	Oceania	US Minor Outlying Islands
Rest of the World	Oceania	Vanuatu
Rest of the World	Oceania	Wallis & Futuna
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Angola
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Benin
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Botswana
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Burkina Faso
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Burundi
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Cameroon
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Cape Verde
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Central African Republic
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Chad
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Comoros
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Congo
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Congo (Democratic Republic)
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Djibouti
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Equatorial Guinea
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Eritrea
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Ethiopia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Gabon
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Gambia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Ghana
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Guinea
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Guinea-Bissau
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Ivory Coast
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Kenya
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Lesotho
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Liberia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Madagascar
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Malawi
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mali
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mauritius
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mayotte
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mozambique
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Namibia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Niger
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Nigeria
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Reunion
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Rwanda
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Sao Tome and Principe
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Senegal
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Seychelles
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Sierra Leone
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Somalia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	South Africa
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	St Helena
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Swaziland
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Tanzania
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Togo
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Uganda
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Zambia
Rest of the World	Sub-Saharan Africa	Zimbabwe

Status of the statistics

Official Accredited Statistics

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation.

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in November 2020. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

This outcome is the result of work undertaken by the statistics team responsible for the publication to address a list of recommendations set out in their judgement in January 2017, when the OSR temporarily suspended the accreditation of these statistics having concluded they no longer complied with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The 2017 assessment of the statistics focused on eight requirements which DWP was to address to ensure compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics and considered more broadly how the statistics meet the three pillars of the Code of Practice for Statistics: Trustworthiness, Quality, and Value and with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Key developments include:

• introduction of quarterly data in the narrative (it should be noted that from the February 2023 release we have changed the reporting narrative again to focus on annual data, this is to provide the user with a wider view of historic events which will encompass changes since the break in reporting when the statistics were suspended due to an underlying data issue)
• a thorough quality report
• detailed methodology note and data journey
• new user engagement strategy
• new publication strategy
• move to HTML and a more accessible release

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Quality statement

Read a full quality report for the NINo statistics.

Release strategy

The methodology used to create, and the definitions used within, the official statistics may be updated in subsequent releases, along with any retrospective changes to the time series already released. The NINo Statistics are released each quarter and Stat-Xplore will be refreshed with the latest quarterly data alongside each publication.

The strategy for the release of NINo statistics will be updated on an ongoing basis.

The NINo statistics publication is added to the GOV.UK website at 9:30am on the day of release.

User engagement

Understanding user requirements is crucial to ensure the NINo publication is relevant to users and that developments to the statistics meet user needs. Users’ views on the NINo statistics are sought in the following ways:

• email DWP at cbm.stats@dwp.gov.uk
• email through the Stat-Xplore dissemination tool: Stat.Xplore@dwp.gov.uk
• DWP user group meetings held quarterly, organised by the DWP statistical team
• wider Government Statistical Service (GSS) migration user groups, organised by the ONS
• parliamentary questions and freedom of information requests relating to NINo statistics – responses to these are published in Hansard and on the DWP statistical Freedom of Information page

Enquiries about these statistics should be directed by email to: cbm.stats@dwp.gov.uk.

Users are invited to comment on the development and relevance of these statistics.

DWP is also making use of improving technology to better understand and improve the users experience of:

• the NINo release landing page
• downloads of the statistical release
• usage of Stat-Xplore and the most popular queries
• the technology that users employ (desktops, mobile phones, laptops)
• the type of users accessing data

Please feedback to help the statistical team improve the way these statistics are disseminated.

Useful links

This document, the statistics release and supporting tables and further documentation can be accessed through the NINo collection page.

Build your own data tables using Stat-Xplore.

Further information on the NINo application process.

ISBN: 978-1-78659-250-7