THOUSANDS of illegal immigrants are being issued with national insurance numbers every year even though officials know that they have suspect immigration documents.

Staff in Jobcentres have been told that they have a duty to issue an NI number even if they realise that the applicant has forged documents and no legal right to work, official papers seen by The Times reveal.

The NI number, which employers regard as a prerequisite to work, can also be used to claim various benefits.

When Jobcentre staff have evidence or suspicions that an applicant has no right to work in Britain, they pass information to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to consider prosecution. Last year, the details of 3,300 immigrants granted NI numbers on the basis of suspect documents were passed on, but the Home Office admitted yesterday that it had no figures for prosecutions. A spokesman said: “We would not have a number for prosecutions of people who falsified immigration documents in order to get a national insurance number”.

Lord Grabiner, QC, who called for reform of the system in a report to ministers six years ago, last night called the situation a scandal. He said: “One of my key concerns was that if you got hold of an NI number then it gave you access to all kinds of benefits — everything that was going. It was a fundamental part of the story.”

The disclosure will cause another headache for John Reid, the Home Secretary, because it highlights yet another area of the immigration system that officials described yesterday as “not fit for purpose”.

The disclosure by The Times comes after the release of more than 1,000 foreign prisoners without deportation checks and the admission by a senior Home Office official that he did not have the “faintest idea” how many illegal immigrants there were in Britain.

MPs said last night that the disclosure highlighted the lack of joined-up government and the depth of the crisis over illegal immigration.

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “Failing to check the immigration status of individuals seeking NI numbers is one thing but deliberately issuing those numbers even when the Department for Work and Pensions suspects, and in some cases knows, the document to be forged is a travesty of the system in place”.

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