Mission impossible: getting NI meetings

Has anyone else found it frustrating to secure an interview for an employee to obtain a National Insurance number?

I have two members of staff who have relocated from Sweden to the UK and have been trying for more than six months to get an appointment for them. I have contacted numerous departments and spoken to the Jobcentre Plus complaints department on several occasions.

Still my members of staff have not received an appointment. The office they need to go to is either continually engaged or – on the rare occasions that the number rings – there is no reply.

I have found a department that provides information to employers who can apply by post on behalf of their employees. That department has no telephone number or e-mail address, only a postal address and my letter has yet to be answered.

Having totally lost the plot with this, I wrote to the minister for work and pensions, Alan Johnson, last month and I have now received a letter from Jobcentre Plus assuring me it will address my complaints by 17 March.

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Does anyone have any advice that might help me in my quest for the holy grail of the National Insurance world – an appointment?

Miranda Harrison, HR business partner, Autodesk