Children should receive a National Insurance number automatically just before their 16th birthday if they live in UK and their parents or guardians are receiving child benefit for them.
But Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said there is evidence that young people are leaving custody without a number.
She has written to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons calling for checks as to whether a number has been issued to form part of the criteria they inspect on.
"Releasing a young person into the community without a National Insurance number puts them in an extremely difficult position," Crook states in the letter.
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