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Paying National Insurance

Working

Even if you already have enough qualifying years to get a full basic State Pension, you have to pay NI contributions. You have to pay NI contributions until you reach your State Pension age if you:

• work for an employer and your wages are above a certain level
• are self-employed and you do not have a small-earnings exception certificate

Paying voluntary NI contributions

If you're paying voluntary NI contributions you may stop paying them if you have enough qualifying years to get a full basic State Pension.

If you stop paying voluntary NI contributions, your widow, widower or surviving civil partner's bereavement benefits may be affected, if you die.

Bereavement benefit entitlement

You will need to have enough qualifying years in your working life to give your widow, widower or surviving civil partner full-rate bereavement benefit.

To get bereavement benefits at the full rate you normally need 90 per cent of the years in your working life counting as qualifying years. This is different to the State Pension, where you only need 30 qualifying years to get the full rate of basic State Pension.

Reduced-rate National Insurance contributions

In the past, married women (and some widows) could choose to either:

• pay reduced-rate NI contributions as an employee
• not pay Class 2 NI contributions when self-employed

Although this stopped in 1977, women who were already paying reduced–rate NI contributions could continue to do so.

Reduced–rate NI contributions do not count towards the State Pension. You can't normally get Home Responsibilities Protection for any period covered by reduced-rate NI contributions. However, from April 2010 you may be able to get the credits for parents and carers that replaced Home Responsibilities Protection.

You will stop paying reduced–rate NI contributions if you:

• get divorced or your marriage is annulled (officially cancelled)
• stop being entitled to certain bereavement benefits
• ask to stop paying reduced–rate NI contributions

You will also stop paying reduced–rate NI contributions if, for two tax years in a row, you have not:

• earned enough to pay, or been treated as paying, NI contributions as an employee
• been self-employed

If you need advice about reduced-rate NI contributions, contact HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

• How to contact HM Revenue and Customs

Time spent at university

You will not normally receive NI credits for any time spent at university.

In certain circumstances you may have been awarded National Insurance credits for the tax years during which you had your 16th, 17th and 18th birthdays. These are known as ‘starting credits’. New awards of starting credits ceased from 6 April 2010.

Time spent working outside the UK

Any period when you’re working outside the UK for a UK employer and continue to pay UK NI contributions will count towards your qualifying years.

Contributions you may have paid into another country’s social security system whilst working outside the UK don’t count towards your qualifying years. These contributions won’t have been used when working out your State Pension forecast.

But your foreign social security contributions will be looked at when you claim your State Pension if you were working in either:

• another European Economic Area country
• a country with which the UK has a social security reciprocal agreement

For more information contact the International Pension Centre.

• International Pension Centre

Topping up your State Pension

If your forecast shows that you may not receive a full basic State Pension then you may be able to top up your State Pension. You can do this by making voluntary NI contributions. This may be useful if you have missed paying NI contributions, for example because you weren't working, or were outside the UK. Details will be included in your forecast if this applies to you.

There are time limits for paying voluntary NI contributions. You can usually fill gaps in the previous six tax years. See the following link to find out more.

• Getting your tax and National Insurance right

New rules for voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions

From 6 April 2009, new rules allowed some people to pay additional voluntary Class 3 NI contributions. These may be paid in addition to any you may pay for the previous six tax years. You may be able to do this for up to six years from 6 April 1975, if you:

• reach State Pension age between 6 April 2023 and 5 April 2023
• already have 20 qualifying years (including years of Home Responsibilities Protection)

You cannot pay voluntary Class 3 NI contributions for any tax year if the whole year is covered by reduced-rate NI.

See 'Do you need to top up your National Insurance contributions' to find out more.

• Do you need to top up your National Insurance contributions?

• Home Responsibilities Protection

• Calculating your State Pension age

Further questions

If you have any further questions about your NI contributions or credits, contact HMRC.

• How to contact HM Revenue and Customs

More useful links

• Getting a State Pension forecast

• Understanding your State Pension forecast

• Increasing your income in retirement