NIN Dilemma--HELP!!!

While I was looking for work I did about 2 weeks worth of work for a friend's company. It's only him and another guy, so the place is small. When I told them I didn't have an NIN, they said that I should call my local DSS to get an interview, etc etc.

FIVE MONTHS LATER I finally get a call back from the DSS (after playing phone tag, mind you) and they said everything you would expect them to say: they can't give me a NIN until I have permanent work, and to get paid for this temp job I need to get that company to give me a temporary NIN. When I contacted my friend's company, the other guy (not the friend) said that he had no idea how to issue a temp NIN, and that I should (Get This!) register with a Temp Agency and do a job for them, so they can assign me a number.

Is this legal? Kosher? Fair??

I have said this SO many times - you are entitled to interview for an NI number if you are actively looking for work.  It says so right on their own paperwork from the DWP.  Call back and tell them that you are looking for work, have actually taken work, and that you need an NI number.  Insist upon it.  Be an Ugly American if necessary!  It's your right!

*Okay - off the soapbox right now.  Guess I get so upset at the trouble other offices give people because I had no trouble at all - and I feel almost guilty for it!*

If that fails, someone posted here the formula for a temporary NI number.  But I firmly believe you are better off getting a 'real' one right off the bat.

Good luck!

I only saw the posting that you are allowed to get a NIN while looking for work after the DSS called me. It took me five months to get in touch with them, so you can understand why I am wary to go that route again.

Okay - the formula for a temporary number is TN followed by your birthdate in this format DDMMYY, then F for female and M for male.

So if your birthday was today's date in 1968, your temporary number would be TN121168F.

Keep an eye on the amount of tax taken out whilst using the temporary number until you get a real one, and scan all the paperwork you get from Inland Revenue.  You SHOULD get any overpaid taxes back, but elle didn't... :'(

Thanks for your help. My husband asked his accounting department and they've given him a form I should fill out and send in. A P46? (it's not a P45, I know what that is). Anyway, when I contacted the guy (not the friend) who I worked through, he basically told me to fill it out myself (in a tone that was like 'shove it, I'm not filling out a form'. I've just spent 10 minutes crying because no one, even someone who gives me work, seems to want to help me.

Everything Peedal said is correct (to my knowledge). Give your friend that formula so he can create a temp number for you and then go back to the DWP office and get an interview. You are allowed to get a number if you're actively looking for work and you can prove it (such as a cv and letters for interviews etc etc.)

The form is a P-46 and it's a breeze to fill out.  It's what's filled out when you don't have a P-45, kind of liken it to the form you fill out at a new job in the US where you state your deductions and all that, only this is much simpler.  If you still need help with that form, let me know.  I'm kind of tied up this evening (little one's birthday and older one's open house for 6th Form!), but I'll look at any questions you have before I go to bed and see what I can do to help.

And take deep breaths.  

Thanks very much, peedal. As it turns out the company won't let me fill out a P-46 because of the tax and legal implications, so I am back to square one. I thought I would get paid by christmas but I don't think that's happening!

Happy birthday to your little one!

Maybe they should just pay you cash and be done with it!  

(And thanks for the wishes for the 'little' one - he's 10!!)

Actually, paying me in cash was the option when I began the project, but then they sort of backed off from that.

Oh, geeze, 10 years old. About the age when they start looking at girls and thinking 'maybe they don't have cooties after all...'

Actually, paying me in cash was the option when I began the project, but then they sort of backed off from that.

Oh, geeze, 10 years old. About the age when they start looking at girls and thinking 'maybe they don't have cooties after all...'

Doesn't help that the girls have been giving him 'the eye' for the past 2 years already...!

I know I am going off-topic, but Oi! Getting googly eyes at 8? What's up with that? I am officially old--I was just about to say 'back in my day...'