<Li> Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 2005 </Li> <P> The Personal Public Service Number (PPS No) (Irish: Uimhir Phearsanta Seirbhíse Poiblí, or Uimh . PSP) is an identifier issued by the Client Identity Services section of the Department of Social Protection, on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection in Ireland . </P> <P> The PPSN was known as the Revenue and Social Insurance Number (RSI No) until 1998 . RSI Numbers were first issued in April 1979 as a replacement for the separate PAYE Number and Social Welfare Insurance Number which had been used for income tax and social welfare purposes respectively until then . The PAYE Number was issued by the Revenue Commissioners and these numbers were transferred to the RSI No system as a basis for the unified system . </P> <P> The format of the number is a unique alphanumeric in the general form 8765432AA . The number is assigned at the registration of birth of the child and is issued on a "Public Services Card" often when a child reaches the legal age of employment, currently 16, otherwise a "Letter of Entitlement" is issued . The same format was used by the Department of Education and Skills as the "Pupil Number" since 1994 and this caused some concern and confusion as it was in the same format and used the same check character formula, but more often different from the PPS No . In August 2000 the department instigated a programme to remove the Pupil Number and replace it with the PPS No in future on records . By September 2001, the Pupil Number was fully withdrawn . </P>

Is rsi number the same as pps number