Last month I was asked to submit my National Insurance Number to my pension fund in the UK who pay out my monthly salary. I was medically boarded many years ago due to the company car I was provided with being way too small resulting in them panicking when I had back problems. The sun roof cut into the head room and I was driving more at an angle and not sitting straight. This resulted in the entire fleet of over 200 vehicles being replaced that same week excluding sun roofs.
The problem now is I cannot find my NI number even though they have it because on my pay slips the middle numbers are x'ed out. When I spoke to them over the phone I said how ridiculous this was because it is me on the phone who they want to verify that is still alive and kicking. This is corporate nonsense again making everyone jump through hoops because they can. Once a year they send out documentation that I have to fill in to prove I am still alive and have always left out the NI number, but this time it was rejected after so many years of leaving it empty. They are requiring something they already have on record and I see it as some corporate nonsense holding back payments wherever they can.
I contacted the Government Department in the UK and had a proper run around with them telling me they will post out the NI number to my address in South Africa. This I said would not work due to not having a reliable postal service as Christmas cards have been known to arrive up to 1 year later or not at all. Courier is the only way of guaranteeing any type of post here today.
I have always used agencies when it comes to any special type of documents like visa's so I thought there has o be someone doing National Insurance cards and numbers. This morning after roughly searching for under 5 minutes I phoned one of the agencies listed and within 10 minutes without any nonsense and a £25 fee this problem has now been taken care of.
I am over in the UK next month and thought I would just sort it out then, but my mother thought this could be a problem with all the public holidays and lack of service in government departments these days. This had got me thinking to get someone else to do this anyway and paying £25 is a bargain really considering it removes any hassles.
Next week I am having to apply for 2 Schengen visas for family members who don't have British passports and this will done through the French Embassy via an agency. Again hassle free because the last time I used them the entire process took around 10 minutes unlike the French Embassy in London which took an entire day. In London you queued in the morning and collected your visa in the afternoon so again I outsourced this and paid a service fee which saved not only a wasted day but the £100 I would have spent on public transport with a family of 4 rail ticket.
I have learned that if you can find a specialist company to do your dirty work it is money well spent and why I recommend anyone who is stressing about having to obtain documents to try and find someone who does this for a living because it will not only save you money, but also the stress and time which is far more valuable.