Domestic abuse survivors should have the right to have a new National Insurance (NI) number to prevent abusive ex-partners tracking them down, says the Victims Commissioner for England and Wales, Dame Vera Baird.
She has written an open letter to government ministers asking them to make the change to regulations after it emerged domestic abuse perpetrators could trace victims through their NI identification.
“Clearly the current system is open to abuse but the problem could be stopped by allowing victims to more easily change their NI number so that their former partners cannot use this method to find them,” she wrote. “Failure of bureaucracy is inadvertently leading to victims’ lives being put at risk.”
Dame Vera is acting after an article in The Independent newspaper revealed the practice, with one domestic violence survivor tracked down 11 times by her abusive ex because he knew her NI number.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
