National Insurance (NI) is a tax which is taken from pay for the UK’s health and social security system such as the NHS.

Your National Insurance number is a unique personal number allocated to you that is used to identify you to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and the Department of Work and Pensions. It ensures the Government correctly records any contributions you have made or owe. Everyone who works in any capacity in the UK will need to register for an NI number.

The format of a National Insurance number is two letters followed by a 6-digit number and a final letter eg: SL123456H.

To obtain a National Insurance number you must call your local Jobcentre Plus on 0845 600 0643 between 8.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday.

Jobcentre Plus may write to you and ask you to come to an interview where you’ll be asked about your circumstances and why you need a National Insurance number. You will be asked to complete an application form and there will be a brief interview. After your interview, you will be informed by letter if you have been successful, and if so your NI number will be included in the letter. Please let us know as soon as you receive this number. It may take one or two months before the number is issued so it is best to make this appointment as soon possible. You can be paid as PAYE whilst your application is in process.

PAYE employees: We are able to assist in your application for a National Insurance number. We can request the application form on your behalf, and post it to you. With this process you will not need to take time off work to attend an interview.  Please note that you can only go through this process if you work for us as a PAYE employee.

If you work in the UK, you will have to pay income tax. This tax is collected by HMRC. Tax is paid based on your income during the tax year, which starts on April 6th and ends on April 5th in the following year.

You normally have to pay tax each time you are paid by us through the PAYE system. In order for you to pay the correct amount of tax you must have a tax code.

If you have already worked in the UK you must send us the New Employers section of the P45 issued by your last employer. If you do not have a P45 we may send you a PAYE Starter Checklist to confirm your working status to HMRC. They will then issue us with your correct tax code. Your PAYE tax code is used by our payroll system to calculate how much tax you pay. It will show your personal allowance, which is the amount you can earn during a tax year without paying any tax. For example tax code 543L means that you can earn £5,435.00 tax free.

If you are working on the last week of the tax year you will receive a P60 (End of Year Certificate) from us. This shows how much you have earned during the year and how much tax you have paid on these earnings. If you are not working that last week please contact us to request that your P60 is posted out to you. P60’s are not sent out automatically in case you have changed your address.

If you leave our employment before the end of the tax year you can request a P45. There will be a section for you to keep and another to give to your new employer.

Sometimes when you’re working you can end up paying too much Income Tax particularly if you change jobs often or have more than one job at the same time. If you think you’ve paid too much tax you can take some simple steps to apply for a refund. This may happen if:

• you started a new job and had an emergency tax code for a while
• your employer was using the wrong tax code
• you were only employed for part of the year
• you’re a student who only worked at holiday times
• you had more than one job at the same time
• other income you have that is taxed through your tax code for example, savings/investment income has reduced since you last told HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) about it – which means the amount of income included in your tax code is too high
• you stopped working and didn’t get any taxable earnings or benefits for the rest of the tax year
• your circumstances changed – for example you changed from full to part-time working or became self-employed
• you were made redundant
• you received payments after leaving such as arrears of pay, payments in lieu of notice, unpaid holiday pay, redundancy or termination payments including compensation for loss of office or employment

Current Year
Any refunds due for the current year will be included with your wages.

Previous Years
If you’ve paid too much tax for previous years, HMRC will send you a P800 Tax Calculation and any refund you may be due by the September after the tax year. You do not need to send them your P60 certificate.

If you think you are due a repayment and HMRC has not notified you by the September after the tax year then you can telephone or write to tell HMRC why you think you’ve paid too much tax.

For refunds relating to work through JRRA please contact the Lothian Tax office on 0845 302 1409.

In most cases you’ll get back the tax you’ve overpaid as long as you claim on time.

We will pay your wages directly into your personal bank account on a weekly basis. You will therefore need to open a bank account. We can provide you with a bank reference letter to facilitate this.

If you are currently overseas bring a letter to the UK from your current bank branch in your home country stating how long you have been a customer and that your account is in good standing. Alternatively if that is not an option bring a recent and original bank statement ensuring that both your name and home address are shown on it.

It is worth speaking to your bank in your home country before you leave. Ask if your bank has a special relationship with a bank in the UK, and whether this can help you with setting up an account or in any other way. Also, find out if you can use a cash card from your home country bank in UK bank machines.

There are many banks in the UK and they offer different arrangements and levels of service. You should spend some time finding the bank that offers the best service for you.