A UK taxpayer has spent years battling HM Revenue and Customs after the department mistakenly declared her dead, blocking access to her state pension. The administrative nightmare began when HMRC allocated her National Insurance number to a complete stranger who later passed away.
A Decade of Delays and Dead Ends
The individual, who now lives in County Clare, Ireland, was first issued the NI number in 1991 when she moved to the UK for a six-year work stint. The problem surfaced in 2015 when she returned for another job. HMRC told her it could not find her original NI number on its system and issued a temporary one instead.
Since then, she has engaged in a fruitless struggle to reclaim her original identifier. Countless hours on hold, posted letters, and even visits to HMRC offices yielded no resolution. At one point, she was told she might face an 86-week wait simply for a response. The urgency escalated when she needed to submit a state pension forecast application, only to be distressed by the official designation of "deceased."
How Did a Living Person Get Marked as Deceased?
An investigation into the case revealed a staggering initial error. HMRC admitted it had issued the woman in 1991 with an NI number that already belonged to someone else. How she managed to work and pay contributions under this duplicate number for six years without detection remains unexplained, with HMRC refusing to clarify due to the time elapsed.
Only after the threat of media exposure did HMRC act with uncharacteristic speed. Within five days of being contacted by a consumer champion, it provided a call, an explanation, and a proposed solution—something it had failed to do in the preceding ten years.
The Complex Path Back to 'Life' and Compensation
The current fix is convoluted. The taxpayer has been advised to apply for a brand new NI number from the Department for Work and Pensions. Once obtained, HMRC has promised to retrieve and merge the personal information from her previous two numbers. Given the department's poor service record and the complexity of untangling her work history from that of the deceased stranger, confidence in a swift, seamless resolution is low.
In recognition of the profound distress and inconvenience caused, HMRC has offered a mere £250 in compensation. Experts have advised the individual to seek professional financial advice, as having three NI numbers linked to her name could have led to missed entitlements or unexpected tax liabilities over the years.
This case highlights a critical flaw in a system where an NI number is meant to be for life. The consequences of such errors are severe, potentially enabling identity fraud and compromising an individual's entire tax and pensions status. The taxpayer's long fight underscores a worrying level of bureaucratic insouciance when dealing with citizens' most vital financial records.
