Voluntary National Insurance....Class 2 or 3? (2025)

Dazed_and_C0nfused Posts: 16,776 Forumite

2 February 2023 at 2:00PM edited 2 February 2023 at 2:01PM

Class 2 is primarily for the self employed or people who have moved abroad to work.

https://www.gov.uk/pay-class-2-national-insurance

Do they apply?

Are you sure paying for 3 pre 2016 years will actually increase your forecast, never mind add £22/week???

If you post details of your forecast (in full) and NI record you will get plenty of help.

p00hsticks Posts: 14,149 Forumite

2 February 2023 at 2:08PM edited 2 February 2023 at 2:09PM

balletdancer said:

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help me? I'm due to receive my SP later this year. I will be approx. 3 years short and am trying to decide whether to pay them (before April this year) or not. It will increase my pension amount by approx. £22 per week. The missing years are pre 2016. Looking at some earlier posts on here it seems there's an option to pay Class 2, but on my pension forecast it states £824 is due for Class 3. Can anyone explain how I can pay Class 2 rather than Class 3? I have looked, but I've been unable to find out how to do this.

Many thanks in anticipation

You need to be self emplyed to pay class 2 which I think involves registering as self employed with HMRC and completing a self assessment tax return for, I'm not sure if you can retrospectively apply to be self-emplyed and therefore be eligible to pay Class 2 for past years - certainly not as far back as you appear to need to go.

I also suspect your figures may be off somewhere. Each post 2016 year will currently add £5.29 to your forecast - so three extra years would increase your forecast by £15.87, not £22. You say your gaps are all pre-2016 - these I beleive would increase your forecast by the same, slightly less or nothing at all depending on your individual circumstances (and may not be available to purchase at all). I suggest you post the details of your forecast up so others here can confirm your thinking.

balletdancer Posts: 5 Forumite

2 February 2023 at 2:19PM

Thanks for your reply.

I'm currently self employed, have 31 years contributions and will be able to add another year once I file my SA later this year to make 32. I've been paying Class 2 since 2016, so those years are already covered. My forecast is £163.99 per week.

The missing years are pre 2016 and my understanding is I can pay Class 3 before the April deadline and these will count towards my pension. The amount is £824 per year to pay Class 3, but only today, while trying to decide whether to pay or not (I will continue to work so will pay extra Income Tax, which may negate the benefit) I've come across an earlier post that seems to suggest it's possible to pay Class 2, rather than 3.

2 February 2023 at 2:35PM

balletdancer said:

Thanks for your reply.

I'm currently self employed, have 31 years contributions and will be able to add another year once I file my SA later this year to make 32. I've been paying Class 2 since 2016, so those years are already covered. My forecast is £163.99 per week.

The missing years are pre 2016 and my understanding is I can pay Class 3 before the April deadline and these will count towards my pension. The amount is £824 per year to pay Class 3, but only today, while trying to decide whether to pay or not (I will continue to work so will pay extra Income Tax, which may negate the benefit) I've come across an earlier post that seems to suggest it's possible to pay Class 2, rather than 3.

Is that the top line can achieve forecast figure or the up to April 2022 figure ?

The forecast may have up to 3 different figures on it.

How many post 2016 years do you have at the moment ?

What were you doing pre 2016 - employed or self employed ?

balletdancer Posts: 5 Forumite

2 February 2023 at 2:41PM

You can improve your forecast

You have shortfalls in your National Insurance record that you can fill and make count towards your State Pension.

2 February 2023 at 2:57PM edited 2 February 2023 at 2:59PM

So you have £158.70 up to April 2022

Adding 2022-23 will give you £163.99

Buying another 4 years prior to 2022 will give you £185.15.

As you only have 31 years (are you sure 31 as your current amount only equates to 30) with all post 2016 years to date filled that means that you only have around 25 pre 2016 years which leaves plenty of scope to buy more pre 2016 years. Whether you can pay class 2 or 3 depends on your employment status during those years and that will be down to HMRC. If you were self employed you should be able to pay class 2.

balletdancer Posts: 5 Forumite

2 February 2023 at 3:09PM

molerat said:

So you have £158.70 up to April 2022

Adding 2022-23 will give you £163.99

Buying another 4 years prior to 2022 will give you £185.15.

As you only have 31 years (are you sure 31 as your current amount only equates to 30) with all post 2016 years to date filled that means that you only have around 25 pre 2016 years which leaves plenty of scope to buy more pre 2016 years. Whether you can pay class 2 or 3 depends on your employment status during those years and that will be down to HMRC. If you were self employed you should be able to pay class 2.

Yes that's right I have 25 pre 2016 years and 1 partial year 2016/17, which I recently topped up, but is not yet showing on forecast and 1 more year to add (22-23), to give me 32 years

donglefan Posts: 400 Forumite

2 February 2023 at 3:33PM edited 2 February 2023 at 3:35PM

2 February 2023 at 3:41PM edited 2 February 2023 at 3:43PM

donglefan said:

balletdancer, i called the revenue this week and asked about topping up pre-2010 years. i was registered self-employed for those years and asked if i could pay them at class 2, and was told no class 2's can be paid retrospectively further back than the tax year 2016-17. anything before then is at class 3 rate, even if registered self-employed at the time.
as long as you are in good health and expect to live 3 years beyond retirement, it's a good investment even at £800. ref.https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/10/martin-lewis--how-to-boost-your-state-pension-if-you-re-aged-bet/

Something I posted earlier

which disagrees with that stance on class 2 payments.

2 February 2023 at 9:04PM edited 3 February 2023 at 10:02AM

donglefan said:

balletdancer, i called the revenue this week and asked about topping up pre-2010 years. i was registered self-employed for those years and asked if i could pay them at class 2, and was told no class 2's can be paid retrospectively further back than the tax year 2016-17. anything before then is at class 3 rate, even if registered self-employed at the time.
as long as you are in good health and expect to live 3 years beyond retirement, it's a good investment even at £800. ref.https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2022/10/martin-lewis--how-to-boost-your-state-pension-if-you-re-aged-bet/

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/national-insurance-manual/nim72270

And the relevant act

which is pretty much a copy and paste of the class 3 regulation