If you are (or have been recently) in work, you receive benefits or you’re a tax payer, then you’ll find your NI number on your payslip, P60, P45, tax documents or official letters about benefits or tax credits. It looks something like AB123456Z (ie 2 letters, 6 numbers and another letter – 9 characters in total). If you still can’t find it, go to this web page and follow the links there. You could also call the Elections Office at Manchester Town Hall on 0161 234 1212 and they will tell you the other ways you can prove your identity.

They should phone the Elections Office at the Town Hall – see number above.

Under the new system, called Individual Electoral Registration (IER), everyone of voting age must register individually. You can find out more about it on this web page.

Yes you can – go to this web page on the Council site.

You can register at both your parents’ home and at your University residence. In a General Election, you can only vote once – but in local elections you are allowed to vote in both locations, provided they are in different local authorities. There’s a bit more information on this web page.

Obviously, if they aren’t registered they can’t vote, and will have no say over who takes important decisions that will affect their lives. But you could also point out that they may also find it much harder to get a good credit rating in the future – as a leading credit agency points out here. They may also have problems with passport applications, for example, and in other situations where their identity has to be checked. You could also remind them that everyone is legally required to register, and (in theory anyway) they could be fined £80 if they don’t.

• About My Vote are running a campaign to encourage registration…
• as are the Electoral Reform Society…
• and Hope Not Hate.
• The Guardian had a good article about the problems of IER when it was introduced

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