National Insurance - National Insurance and PAYE Service

National Insurance contributions for all UK residents and some non-residents are recorded using the NPS computer system (National Insurance and PAYE Service). This came into use in June and July 2009 and brought NIC and Income Tax records together onto a single system for the first time.

The original National Insurance Recording System (NIRS) was a more archaic system first used in 1975 without direct user access to its records. A civil servant working within the Contributions Office (NICO) would have to request paper printouts of an individual's account which could take up to two weeks to arrive. New information to be added to the account would be sent to specialised data entry operatives on paper to be input into NIRS.

NIRS/2, introduced in 1996, was a large and complex computer system which comprised several applications. These included individual applications to access or update an individual National Insurance account, to view employer's National Insurance schemes and a general work management application. There was some controversy regarding the NIRS/2 system from its inception when problems with the new system attracted widespread media coverage. Due to these computer problems Deficiency Notices (telling individuals of a possible shortfall in their contributions), which had been sent out on an annual basis prior to 1996, stopped being issued. The (then) Inland Revenue took several years to clear the backlog.

Read more about this topic:  National Insurance

Famous quotes containing the words national, insurance and/or service:

    A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.
    Alexander Hamilton (1757–1804)

    Women hock their jewels and their husbands’ insurance policies to acquire an unaccustomed shade in hair or crêpe de chine. Why then is it that when anyone commits anything novel in the arts he should be always greeted by this same peevish howl of pain and surprise? One is led to suspect that the interest people show in these much talked of commodities, painting, music, and writing, cannot be very deep or very genuine when they so wince under an unexpected impact.
    John Dos Passos (1896–1970)

    Let not the tie be mercenary, though the service is measured in money. Make yourself necessary to somebody. Do not make life hard to any.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)