National insurance contributions for the tax year April 2004 to March 2005 are missing from the records of some 500,000 taxpayers. They could remain "lost" until early autumn. The loss of contribution records leads to zero payments or underpayments for claimants for national insurance-based benefits, such as jobseeker's allowance for the unemployed, and the basic state pension. And many have been asked to pay extra to plug the apparent gaps in their contributions records, although they already paid in full.
Once again one of my biggest reservations against the ID cards database is reinforced.
