Open call for evidence

Call for evidence on voluntary National Insurance contributions

Published 23 June 2026

Summary

Subject of the call for evidence

This call for evidence seeks views on the design, operation and future direction of voluntary National Insurance contributions (NICs). Voluntary NICs allow individuals to make voluntary payments to fill gaps in their National Insurance record, helping to secure entitlement to the State Pension and certain contributory benefits.

The government is considering voluntary NICs to ensure the system is fair and fit for purpose. This call for evidence is intended to inform that process.

Scope of the Call for Evidence

The government is seeking evidence on:

• how voluntary NICs operate in practice for different groups
• whether the current system delivers fair and proportionate outcomes
• how well the system supports informed decision‑making by individuals
• how voluntary NICs interact with National Insurance credits
• options for reform

This call for evidence does not propose specific policy changes. Responses will inform the development of future options.

Who should read this?

This call for evidence is open to anyone, but will be of interest to:

• individuals who have paid, or considered paying, voluntary NICs
• representative bodies, including pension, consumer and expatriate groups
• employers and charity bodies that pay voluntary NICs on behalf of their employees and volunteers
• payroll professionals and advisers
• academics and policy experts
• organisations with an interest in pensions, labour markets and contributory benefits

Duration

The call for evidence will run for 12 weeks starting on 23 June 2026 and ending on 15 September 2026.

How to respond

Any responses or queries about this call for evidence should be sent to nics.policy@hmrc.gov.uk.

This call for evidence considers different aspects of the voluntary NICs system.  Respondents should not feel that they have to respond to all of the questions in this document. HMRC also welcomes partial responses, focused on the individual aspects of the framework that are most relevant to the respondent.

1. Foreword

Voluntary National Insurance contributions are an integral part of the UK’s contributory system, helping individuals to build their entitlement to the State Pension and certain contributory benefits where they don’t otherwise fill their National Insurance record through mandatory contributions or by receiving credits. 

Over time, changes in how people work, earn and move in and out of employment have raised important questions about how well the current system is working, who benefits from it, and whether it continues to operate in a way that is fair, transparent and sustainable. 

The government has already acted to change rules which allowed those with a limited connection to the UK to build UK State Pension entitlement at a cheaper rate whilst overseas. At Budget 2025 we removed most access to voluntary Class 2 NICs for periods abroad and strengthened the link a person needs to have to the UK before they can build their NI record abroad.

This call for evidence is an opportunity to take stock. We want to hear from individuals, representative organisations and experts about how voluntary National Insurance contributions operate in practice, how they interact with National Insurance credits, and where there may be scope to improve the system.

The evidence gathered through this process will help to inform the government’s wider thinking around voluntary National Insurance contributions and any future decisions about reform. I encourage all those with an interest to share their views.

Torsten Bell, Minister for Pensions

2. Introduction

Voluntary National Insurance contributions have long played a role in the UK’s social security system, allowing individuals who are not liable to pay National Insurance contributions (NICs), and who do not receive National Insurance credits, to maintain or build entitlement to contributory benefits including the State Pension.

Over time, the voluntary NICs system has developed incrementally. Changes in labour markets, working patterns, international mobility and the expansion of National Insurance credits mean that the government now considers it timely to consider whether the system continues to meet its objectives.

Recent reforms to voluntary NICs for periods spent abroad have addressed some specific fairness concerns. However, they have also highlighted broader questions about the role of voluntary NICs within the NICs system, their interaction with credits, and whether the current design is fair and fit for purpose.

This call for evidence is an important part of answering those questions.

3. Background

The role of National Insurance in State Pension and other benefit entitlement

National Insurance is a system of contributions and credits that links people’s work and other qualifying circumstances to benefit entitlement within the UK’s contributory social security system. In practice, this means that a person’s National Insurance record can affect both their entitlement to the State Pension and eligibility for certain working age contributory benefits.

For the State Pension, entitlement depends on having built up sufficient qualifying years on a person’s National Insurance record. Qualifying years are generally built through paying NICs through work, or by receiving National Insurance credits. Where a person has gaps in their record, they may be able to improve their State Pension position by filling those gaps, through making voluntary NICs.

Based on 2026/2027 State Pension rates, for someone who needs 35 qualifying years for the full new State Pension, each additional qualifying year adds £358.50 a year to their State Pension once they have met the minimum qualifying period. A person usually needs at least 10 qualifying years on their National Insurance record to get any State Pension.

Some contributory working age benefits also depend on the claimant meeting contribution conditions, which can involve having paid, or been credited with, sufficient National Insurance in relevant tax years. The contribution conditions differ between benefits, but the overall principle is the same: National Insurance helps define entitlement within the contributory system alongside means‑tested support.

National Insurance in employment and self-employment

Most people build their National Insurance record through work. Employees and their employers typically pay Class 1 NICs on employed earnings (where earnings exceed relevant thresholds) through the Pay as You Earn (PAYE) system. Employees with earnings between the Lower Earnings Limit (£129 per week in tax year 2026/2027) and Primary threshold (£242 per week in tax year 2026/27) are treated as having paid Class 1 NICs with no actual employee liability to pay. Earnings below the Lower Earnings limit are not liable to pay Class 1 NICs — NI credits or voluntary NICs are required to build entitlement for low earning employees.

Self-employed individuals build their NI record through Class 2 NICs — assessed on their self-employed profits and typically reported through a Self Assessment tax return. Since the April 2024 reforms which removed the liability to pay Class 2 NICs, self-employed individuals with annual profits at or above the Small Profits Threshold (SPT: £7,105 in tax year 2026/2027) have been treated as having paid Class 2 NICs, with no actual liability to pay, whilst those with profits below SPT have been able to choose to pay voluntary Class 2 NICs to build their NI record. Self-employed individuals also pay Class 4 NICs on any annual profits above the Lower Profits Limit (£12,570 in tax year 2026/2027).

National Insurance credits

National Insurance credits help protect entitlement for people who are not paying NICs because they are not in paid work, their earnings are low, or they are in circumstances that the government recognises as contributing to society or limiting their ability to build their contributions through work. Credits can help individuals build qualifying years for State Pension purposes and, in some cases, support contribution conditions for certain working age contributory benefits.

What are voluntary NICs?

Where an individual is not paying NICs or receiving a credit they may be entitled to pay voluntary Class 2 or Class 3 NICs to fill gaps in their National Insurance record. Voluntary NICs can help individuals to build State Pension entitlement, and in some cases maintain entitlement to certain working age contributory benefits. Gaps in a National Insurance record can arise during periods where individuals are not eligible for credits and:

• have low earnings from employment
• are self-employed with low profits
• spend time abroad or
• earn income not subject to compulsory NICs (for example, private pension income, property income or dividend income)

The voluntary NICs class and rate that applies will depend on an individual’s circumstances and eligibility.

The standard rate of voluntary Class 2 NICs in tax year 2026/2027 is £3.65 per week and can be paid by individuals with self-employed profits in a tax year below £7,105, and some other professions such as exam invigilators and some ministers of religion. Class 2 NICs can build entitlement towards the State Pension, Maternity Allowance, new style Employment and Support Allowance and Bereavement Support Payment.

Share fishermen and volunteer development workers are also eligible to pay special higher rates of voluntary Class 2 NICs (£4.30 per week and £6.45 per week respectively in tax year 2026/2027), which provide entitlement to new style Jobseeker’s Allowance in addition to the standard Class 2 linked contributory benefits listed above.

For tax year 2026/2027, Class 3 NICs are payable at a rate of £18.40 per week and only build State Pension entitlement. Class 3 NICs can be paid by most UK residents, and some individuals living outside of the UK who have spent time living or working in the UK.  

By way of comparison, an employee earning the median UK full-time salary of £39,039 per year (ONS, 2025) will pay approximately £2,118 Class 1 employee NICs per year - compared with approximately £957 (Class 3) and £190 (voluntary Class 2) to build a full qualifying year through voluntary NICs.

There are no limits to the number of years for which voluntary NICs can be paid over the course of an individual’s working life. However, the ability to pay retrospectively is time-limited to the previous 6 tax years for both voluntary Class 2 and Class 3. For example, individuals have until the end of the 2032/2033 tax year to fill NI record gaps in the 2026/2027 tax year. If a person fills a gap from either of the previous 2 tax years, they usually pay the rate that applied in the year the gap arose. If a person fills a gap from earlier years (within the six-year time limit), they usually pay the current tax year’s rate.

Table 1 summarises the main classes of voluntary NICs, who may be able to pay them, and the standard weekly rate (with an indicative annualised cost based on 52 weeks).

Voluntary NIC class	Who can pay	Rate (2026/2027)
Voluntary Class 2 (standard rate)	Individuals with self-employed profits below the Small Profits Threshold (£7,105), and certain specific groups (for example, exam invigilators and some ministers of religion).	£3.65 per week (c. £189.80 per year)
Voluntary Class 2 (share fishermen special rate)	Share fishermen who meet the eligibility conditions for the special Class 2 rate.	£4.30 per week (c. £223.60 per year)
Voluntary Class 2 (volunteer development workers special rate)	Volunteer development workers who meet the eligibility conditions for the special Class 2 rate.	£6.45 per week (c. £335.40 per year)
Class 3	Most UK residents, and some people living outside the UK who meet the relevant eligibility conditions.	£18.40 per week (c. £956.80 per year)

Recent Changes

At Budget 2025, the government announced a set of changes to restrict access to voluntary NICs for individuals living outside of the UK.

These measures have removed access to pay voluntary Class 2 NICs for periods abroad from the start of tax year 2026/2027 onwards, for employees and most self-employed individuals.

The measures have also changed the conditions for new applications to pay Class 3 NICs for periods abroad from the start of tax year 2026/2027 onwards. For periods abroad from tax year 2026/2027, a person submitting a new application to pay Class 3 NICs must have either lived in the UK for at least 10 continuous years or have paid at least 10 years of qualifying contributions. Most contributions paid for periods abroad do not count towards meeting this condition.

Current Landscape

Initial scoping suggests that:

• voluntary NICs can offer very high value relative to the contributions paid
• voluntary NICs can allow individuals to accrue an additional qualifying year of NICs at a lower cost than many working people paying compulsory NICs
• some groups are more likely than others to be able to pay voluntary NICs
• It is theoretically possible that an individual could build up a large proportion of their State Pension entitlement using voluntary NICs
• access to voluntary NICs abroad can allow those who are not contributing to the UK economy more broadly to build up State Pension entitlement at a cheap rate, and some may be building simultaneous entitlement to old-age benefits in another country

The government wants to ensure that the voluntary NICs system:

• delivers fair outcomes across different groups, and between individuals and taxpayers collectively
• is clear and accessible for eligible individuals

4. The Call for Evidence

Guiding Principles

The government recognises that people’s lives can be complex. Voluntary NICs allow individuals to fill gaps in their NI record where they have not built qualifying years through compulsory NICs through work or through NI credits. Paying voluntary NICs protects and builds entitlement to contributory benefits (depending on the class paid) including the State Pension.

As a starting point, the government considers that a voluntary NICs system should:

Deliver fair outcomes across different groups

Individuals in similar circumstances should have similar outcomes, and the system should not unduly advantage or disadvantage particular groups.

Be clear and accessible for eligible individuals

The system should strike the right balance between voluntary payments, compulsory payments and credits.

Remain sustainable over the long term

The system should be workable for HMRC, employers and individuals and proportionate in cost.

Question 1.  Do you agree that these are the right guiding principles for the voluntary NICs system or do you believe there are others we should consider? 

Question 2.  Do you feel that some of these objectives are more important than others?

Eligibility and access

As set out in the background section above, eligibility to pay voluntary NICs depends on a person’s circumstances, including whether they have gaps in their National Insurance record and whether they can access credits or are liable to pay compulsory NICs.

In summary, voluntary Class 2 NICs are mainly available to low-profit self-employed people (and certain specific groups), while Class 3 voluntary NICs are generally available to most UK residents and to individuals living outside the UK who meet the relevant eligibility conditions.

Question 3.  Who is currently using voluntary NICs and why? 

Question 4.  In what circumstances do people have gaps in their National Insurance record that voluntary NICs are intended to address (including where credits or compulsory NICs are not available)? Please provide examples.

Question 5.  Are there groups who would like to use voluntary NICs but cannot access them, or for whom the current eligibility rules lead to outcomes that feel unfair or inconsistent? What changes would improve fairness, clarity or access (including how people find out whether they are eligible)?

Interaction with National Insurance credits

National Insurance credits protect entitlement for many people who are not in paid work, including carers and people receiving certain benefits. Where credits are available, paying voluntary NICs may be unnecessary; where credits are not available or not claimed, voluntary NICs may fill an important gap. The government would welcome evidence on how the credits system and voluntary NICs system interact in practice, including any fairness concerns where some people receive credits while others must pay to protect entitlement.

Question 6.  Are there barriers that prevent eligible individuals from receiving credits (for example, awareness, complexity, or administrative steps), leading them to pay voluntary NICs instead? Please provide evidence and examples.

Question 7.  Are there circumstances where credits and voluntary NICs overlap or interact in ways that create confusion, duplication, or unintended outcomes? If so, what changes would improve fairness and clarity?

Value, incentives and behaviour

Voluntary NICs can represent high value for money for individuals who increase their State Pension entitlement by filling gaps. The government is interested in how pricing and eligibility affect behaviour (including timing, take-up and choices about work), and whether the current system achieves fair outcomes both for those who pay voluntarily and for people who pay compulsory NICs whilst employed or self-employed.

Question 8.  How do individuals decide whether to pay voluntary NICs, and to what extent do people use voluntary NICs as a long-term way to build qualifying years (including what information they use, who advises them, and what prompts them to act)?

Question 9.  To what extent does the current pricing of voluntary NICs affect perceptions of fairness compared with compulsory NICs paid through work?

Question 10.  Who benefits most from being able to pay voluntary NICs at lower cost, and how does this relate to ability to pay (for example, income, wealth, or being supported by other sources of income)? Please share any analysis or data.

Question 11.  Does the current system create unintended incentives (for example, to delay engagement, to structure work/income to qualify for lower cost contributions, or to focus on buying back specific years)? If so, what changes could reduce these effects?

Information, guidance and decision-making

Decisions about paying voluntary NICs can involve complex trade-offs, including future residence and work plans, interaction with credits, and understanding whether additional qualifying years increase entitlement. The government would welcome evidence on whether people receive the right information at the right time to make informed choices, and how communications could better support fair outcomes.

Question 12.  How effective is existing guidance (including digital journeys and helplines) in helping people understand whether paying voluntary NICs is in their interests, and what would improve it?

Question 13.  Are there risks of poor outcomes linked to misunderstanding or third-party advice (including where individuals pay when it provides little or no benefit)? What safeguards or changes could improve decision making?

Partial Year Voluntary NICs

Individuals can purchase voluntary NICs for part of a tax year where they haven’t built sufficient contributions through their employed earnings, self-employed profits or NI credits to achieve a qualifying year for State Pension purposes.

This allows them to ‘top-up’ the contributions or credits they have already built in a tax year and ensure those part year contributions and credits don’t go to waste where they fall short of the threshold to build a full qualifying year for State Pension purposes.

Self-employed individuals with low profits can also pay for part year contributions to build entitlement to working age contributory benefits like Maternity Allowance and new style Employment and Support Allowance.

Question 14.  In what circumstances do individuals end up with partial year gaps in their NI record?

Question 15.  How effectively does the current system enable individuals to fill partial-year gaps in their NI record, and to what extent do current arrangements deliver outcomes that are proportionate and fair?

Contributions for periods abroad and connection to the UK

Voluntary NICs can be paid in respect of periods spent abroad in some circumstances. The government is interested in how rules on residence, prior contributions and social security agreements affect access in practice, and how to ensure that people building entitlement from outside the UK have a sufficient connection to the UK and that the overall offer remains fair to those paying compulsory NICs while working in the UK.

Question 16.  How do individuals abroad find out about, and navigate, the rules on paying voluntary NICs for overseas periods (including any role for employers, advisers, or online communities)?

Question 17.  Are the current eligibility conditions for paying voluntary NICs from abroad (including tests based on previous residence or previous qualifying years) the right way to reflect a ‘connection to the UK’? What alternatives would be fairer or easier to administer?

Question 18.  What are the impacts of allowing voluntary NICs for overseas periods (for example, who uses it, at what income/wealth levels, and how it affects decisions to maintain UK links)? Please provide any evidence.

Question 19.  How do perceptions of fairness change when voluntary NICs are paid from abroad and what factors shape views on the pricing of contributions abroad?

Further Suggestions

HMRC is interested in hearing other ideas from a wide range of taxpayers and stakeholders for how the voluntary NICs system should be operating. 

Question 20.  What reforms to voluntary NICs should the government consider to improve fairness?

Question 21.  What further reform of the voluntary NICs system should the government consider?

5. Summary of questions

Question 1.  Do you agree that these are the right guiding principles for the voluntary NICs system or do you believe there are others we should consider? 

Question 2.  Do you feel that some of these objectives are more important than others?

Question 3.  Who is currently using voluntary NICs and why? 

Question 4.  In what circumstances do people have gaps in their National Insurance record that voluntary NICs are intended to address (including where credits or compulsory NICs are not available)? Please provide examples.

Question 5.  Are there groups who would like to use voluntary NICs but cannot access them, or for whom the current eligibility rules lead to outcomes that feel unfair or inconsistent? What changes would improve fairness, clarity or access (including how people find out whether they are eligible)?

Question 6.  Are there barriers that prevent eligible individuals from receiving credits (for example, awareness, complexity, or administrative steps), leading them to pay voluntary NICs instead? Please provide evidence and examples.

Question 7.  Are there circumstances where credits and voluntary NICs overlap or interact in ways that create confusion, duplication, or unintended outcomes? If so, what changes would improve fairness and clarity?

Question 8.  How do individuals decide whether to pay voluntary NICs, and to what extent do people use voluntary NICs as a long-term way to build qualifying years (including what information they use, who advises them, and what prompts them to act)?

Question 9.  To what extent does the current pricing of voluntary NICs (including differences between Class 2 and Class 3) affect perceptions of fairness compared with compulsory NICs paid through work?

Question 10.  Who benefits most from being able to pay voluntary NICs at lower cost, and how does this relate to ability to pay (for example, income, wealth, or being supported by other sources of income)? Please share any analysis or data.

Question 11.  Does the current system create unintended incentives (for example, to delay engagement, to structure work/income to qualify for lower cost contributions, or to focus on buying back specific years)? If so, what changes could reduce these effects?

Question 12.  How effective is existing guidance (including digital journeys and helplines) in helping people understand whether paying voluntary NICs is in their interests, and what would improve it?

Question 13.  Are there risks of poor outcomes linked to misunderstanding or third-party advice (including where individuals pay when it provides little or no benefit)? What safeguards or changes could improve decision making?

Question 14.  In what circumstances do individuals end up with partial year gaps in their National Insurance record?  

Question 15.  How effectively does the current system enable individuals to fill partial-year gaps in their NI record, and to what extent do current arrangements deliver outcomes that are proportionate and fair?

Question 16.  How do individuals abroad find out about, and navigate, the rules on paying voluntary NICs for overseas periods (including any role for employers, advisers, or online communities)?

Question 17.  Are the current eligibility conditions for paying voluntary NICs from abroad (including tests based on previous residence or previous qualifying years) the right way to reflect a ‘connection to the UK’? What alternatives would be fairer or easier to administer?

Question 18.  What are the impacts of allowing voluntary NICs for overseas periods (for example, who uses it, at what income/wealth levels, and how it affects decisions to maintain UK links)? Please provide any evidence.

Question 19.  How do perceptions of fairness change when voluntary NICs are paid from abroad and what factors shape views on the pricing of contributions abroad?

Question 20.  What reforms to voluntary NICs should the government consider to improve fairness between contributors?

Question 21.  What further reform of the voluntary NICs system should the government consider?

7. The call for evidence process

This call for evidence is being conducted in line with the government’s consultation principles. Responses will inform future policy development.

Tax Policy Making principles

Tax Policy Making

The following principles underpin the government’s approach to tax policy making:

• predictability and stability: the single major fiscal event cycle will provide a predictable and stable framework for the delivery of tax changes
• a smart and agile approach to consultation: the government will engage stakeholders fully and flexibly when developing tax policy, prioritising dynamic and frequent engagement with tax professionals at both ministerial and official levels — where formal consultation is required, it will be targeted and precise, only seeking information that is genuinely needed, and will last a proportionate amount of time
• transparency: the government is committed to transparency, and will make sure that its rationales for tax policy changes and assessments of policy impacts are clear

These principles will enable the government to deliver change quickly, whilst making sure that the impacts of tax policy changes are fully understood.

How to respond

A summary of the questions in this call for evidence is included in the ‘Summary of questions’ section.

Responses should be sent by email to nics.policy@hmrc.gov.uk, or by post to:

Toby Lawlor
Individuals Policy Directorate
HM Revenue and Customs
Room 3/E01
100 Parliament Street
SW1A 2BQ
London
United Kingdom

Please do not send call for evidence responses to the Consultation Coordinator

Paper copies of this document or copies in Welsh and alternative formats (large print, audio and Braille) may be obtained free of charge from the above address. This document can also be accessed from HMRC’s GOV.UK pages.

All responses will be acknowledged, but it will not be possible to give substantive replies to individual representations.

When responding, please say if you are a business, an individual or a representative body. In the case of representative bodies, please provide information on the number and nature of people you represent.

Confidentiality

HMRC is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal information. This privacy notice describes how we collect and use personal information about you in accordance with data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018.

Information provided in response to this call for evidence, including personal information, may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes.

These are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection

Act 2018, UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be

aware that, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals with, amongst other things, obligations of confidence. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on HM Revenue and Customs.

Call for Evidence Privacy Notice

This notice sets out how we will use your personal data, and your rights. It is made under Articles 13 and/or 14 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation.

Your data

The data controller for your personal data is HMRC. We will process the following personal data of individuals responding to this call for evidence:

Name
Email address
Postal address
Phone number
Job title
Your opinion

Purpose

The purposes for which we are processing your personal data is: Call for Evidence: voluntary National Insurance contributions.

Legal basis of processing

The legal basis for processing your personal data is that the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in a government department under Article 6(1)(e) of the UK GDPR.

Recipients

Your personal data will be shared by us with HM Treasury and Department for Work and Pensions as departments jointly responsible for voluntary NICs policy alongside HMRC.

As the personal data is stored on our IT infrastructure, it will be accessible to our IT service providers. They will only process this personal data for our purposes and in fulfilment with the contractual obligations they have with us.  

Retention

Your personal data will be kept by us for 6 years and will then be deleted.

Your rights

You have the right to request information about how your personal data are processed, and to request a copy of that personal data.

You have the right to request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay.

You have the right to request that any incomplete personal data are completed, including by means of a supplementary statement.

You have the right to request that your personal data are erased if there is no longer a justification for them to be processed.

You have the right in certain circumstances (for example, where accuracy is contested) to request that the processing of your personal data is restricted.

Contact HMRC or make a complaint

Please refer to the HMRC Privacy Notice for how to contact us or make a complaint.  If you have any questions about this privacy notice or how HMRC handles your personal information, email the Data Protection Officer at: advice.dpa@hmrc.gov.uk

Consultation principles

This call for evidence is being run in accordance with the government’s Consultation Principles.

The Consultation Principles are available on the Cabinet Office website: Consultation Principles Guidance

If you have any comments or complaints about the consultation process, please contact the Consultation Coordinator.

Please do not send responses to the call for evidence to this link.