How much does Class 3 National Insurance cost?

Class 3 National Insurance costs £18.40 a week in 2026/27, but a gap in either of the previous two tax years is charged at its original rate.

That weekly figure is GOV.UK's rate for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Below: what a whole year comes to, which rate applies to which gap, the six-year deadline, the cheaper Class 2 route some self-employed people can use, how to check your record and how to pay. Whether paying is worthwhile depends on your own record, and a free State Pension forecast shows that. Some people like to talk a voluntary contribution over, alongside their pensions, savings and tax, before paying it: once the brief enquiry form on this page is sent, an FCA-authorised adviser rings to go through it, and that costs nothing.

The 2026/27 weekly rates, and what a full year comes to

GOV.UK's voluntary contributions guide gives the rates for the 2026 to 2027 tax year as "£3.65 a week for Class 2" and "£18.40 a week for Class 3". The current rate is the usual one, with the exceptions set out in the next section.

The figures are from the Class 3 row of HMRC's rates and allowances for National Insurance contributions, read on 20 October 2026.

A full year in pounds

The rates are weekly, so a year's total is our own working: £18.40 × 52 weeks = £956.80 for a full year of Class 3 at the 2026/27 rate. The same arithmetic on the Class 2 rate gives £3.65 × 52 = £189.80. A check on the first figure: HMRC's published Direct Debit schedule for 2026/27 has eight payments of £73.60 and four of £92.00, which also add up to £956.80. The schedule explains the difference by saying the amount depends on whether the month has four or five weeks.

These are the sums for a whole year. Someone who needs only part of a year to reach a qualifying year, or whose circumstances changed mid-year, should not rely on the full-year figure; the forecast service and HMRC will say what applies to a given gap.

Why the price depends on the year you are paying for

The rate is not always the current one. GOV.UK says you usually pay the current rate, but if you are paying Class 3 for the previous 2 tax years you pay the original rate for those years, and for any earlier years you pay the rate for 2026 to 2027. Paid now, in 2026/27, that puts a 2025/26 gap at £17.75 a week and a 2024/25 gap at £17.45, the rates in the table above, while an older gap is priced at £18.40, the current rate, whatever the rate was in that year.

Two things follow, both worth knowing before you add anything up. First, the price of a given gap can change when the tax year turns on 6 April, so it is worth getting a figure from HMRC rather than carrying one around from an earlier year. Second, the cost of filling several years is not simply the same number repeated: the recent years may carry different weekly rates from the older ones, and the older ones all take the current rate.

The deadline: how far back you can pay

GOV.UK’s Class 3 guide limits payment to gaps in the past 6 tax years, with a deadline of 5 April each year. Its worked example is that you have until 5 April 2032 to pay for gaps in the tax year 2025 to 2026. So each 5 April, the oldest year you can still pay for drops out of reach. The voluntary contributions guide lists having passed the deadline for the period with the gap among the reasons you cannot pay.

Payments for time abroad have their own conditions, covered below, and HMRC is the contact for questions about voluntary National Insurance for a particular year.

If 5 April falls on a weekend or bank holiday, the payment must reach HMRC on the last working day before it, so leave time for the money to arrive. The detail on timing is in how far back you can pay Class 3 National Insurance, and how long a payment takes to appear is in how long voluntary contributions take to show on your record.

Who can pay Class 3, and who can pay Class 2 instead

GOV.UK’s guide says you can pay Class 3 if you are employed, earning less than £129 a week and not eligible for credits, or unemployed and not claiming benefits or getting credits. People over State Pension age can pay Class 3, and Class 2 if they are eligible.

Class 2 is a cheaper route open to some self-employed people. You can pay Class 2 or Class 3 if you are self-employed and have "a gross income of £1,000 or less", or "a gross income over £1,000, but with profits of less than £7,105". The same guide lists some specific roles that can also use Class 2, including examiners and invigilators, and landlords who are eligible to pay Class 2. Its weekly rate is the £3.65 shown above, so the working above puts a full year at £189.80 rather than £956.80. Those who qualify for both classes can compare what each gives them on their own forecast; Class 2 or Class 3: which one covers the difference, and the State Pension if you are self-employed covers the wider picture.

If you have lived or worked abroad, the rules changed from 6 April 2026. The guide’s chapter on time abroad says that from the 2026 to 2027 tax year "You cannot pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance contributions for time abroad", and you can apply to pay Class 3 for time spent abroad after 5 April 2026 if you have previously lived in the UK for 10 years in a row or paid 10 years of qualifying contributions in total. Some people who applied before 6 April 2026 may still use the previous rules, with conditions and dates of their own. Who counts is set out in who can pay voluntary National Insurance contributions, and topping up from overseas is in topping up the UK State Pension from abroad.

Check your record and forecast before you pay

GOV.UK’s Class 3 guide puts looking before paying: your National Insurance record and pension forecast will show whether you have gaps, whether you are eligible to pay, whether you would benefit, how much it would cost and whether you can pay online. The forecast service, Check your State Pension forecast, covers what you could get, whether you can increase it, and ways to do so such as paying to fill gaps. It is not available to someone already receiving a State Pension or who has deferred claiming. Reading the forecast is covered in checking your State Pension forecast, and its limits in how accurate your forecast is.

Three further points from the same guidance matter for the cost:

• Credits first. Check whether you are eligible for National Insurance credits before deciding to pay, as credits could mean you do not have to. Credits can fill a year at no cost to you; see which credits count.
• It does not always help. Paying will not necessarily raise your State Pension; having been contracted out is the example given. A record that already reaches the full amount may gain nothing; the page on contracting out explains one reason.
• Who to ask. Below State Pension age, the Future Pension Centre can tell you whether a payment would benefit you. At or past State Pension age, the contact is the Pension Service. If you think the record itself is wrong, contact HMRC.

Among the reasons people choose to pay, the guidance lists being close to State Pension age without enough qualifying years to get or increase the pension. The rest is individual, and finding and fixing missing years shows how gaps turn up.

How to pay

The routes below are from GOV.UK’s Class 3 payment guide, which also covers bank transfer by Faster Payments, CHAPS or Bacs, cash or cheque at a bank or building society, and posting a cheque.

• Online through the forecast service. You may be able to pay this way if you are below State Pension age and working in the UK. The service cannot be used by anyone self-employed or anyone who has lived or worked abroad.
• Online banking. You need the 18-digit reference number from your HMRC payment request. With the wrong reference, the payment may be delayed or used against a different tax bill you owe.
• Direct Debit or quarterly payments. For gaps you expect in the current year, you can pay monthly by Direct Debit or quarterly. Direct Debit works only for the current tax year (6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027) and future ones, and a new one needs 21 days to set up; for quarterly payments HMRC sends a request every July, October, January and April.

After paying, your record updates in up to 5 working days if you paid through the forecast service, and up to 8 weeks for the other methods. A step-by-step guide is in how to pay Class 3 National Insurance. If you later wonder about getting money back, refunds of voluntary contributions covers it, and tax relief on voluntary contributions covers the tax side.

What a paid year does to your State Pension

Filling a year with Class 3 makes it a qualifying year. GOV.UK’s New State Pension guide says each qualifying year added after 6 April 2016 raises your amount, but only up to the full rate of £241.30 a week. It puts no pound figure on one extra year, and none is worked out here: what a year adds depends on where your record stands, and your forecast shows it. How qualifying years build the pension is in the State Pension guide, with the number needed in how many years you need and the old system in the new State Pension against the basic one. Whether voluntary contributions suit someone planning to retire early depends on their other income too.

If you would like your State Pension forecast set beside your workplace and personal pensions, savings and tax before deciding how much to put towards a gap, sending the form on this page triggers a callback from a firm of FCA-authorised advisers, who handle questions of this kind. The forecast, your record and HMRC are free routes, and so is the enquiry; forecasts for your other pensions are covered separately.

Questions people ask about the cost of Class 3

How much is a year of voluntary National Insurance?

At GOV.UK's 2026/27 rate of £18.40 a week, a full year of Class 3 comes to £956.80 on the working above. A year for an earlier tax year may be priced differently; see the section on which rate applies.

Do I have to pay for a whole year?

Class 3 is set as a weekly rate, and your National Insurance record shows how much filling your own gaps would cost. For a part-year gap, HMRC or the Future Pension Centre can confirm the figure.

Is Class 3 cheaper per month if I use Direct Debit?

The total for the year is the same on HMRC's schedule; the payments are split across months, with £73.60 in some months and £92.00 in others.

Is there a calculator?

GOV.UK says your record and forecast will show what your own gaps would cost, and it offers a National Insurance contributions checker for which type you can pay.

Can I pay Class 3 after I reach State Pension age?

Yes: people past State Pension age can pay Class 3, and Class 2 if eligible, and GOV.UK points them to the Pension Service to find out whether it would benefit them. There is a separate page on paying after State Pension age.

What if I miss the 5 April deadline?

GOV.UK lists a passed deadline among the reasons you cannot pay voluntary contributions for that period. Questions about voluntary National Insurance go to HMRC.

A Class 3 bill is one number in a bigger retirement picture. Should you want it weighed with the rest, your details on the enquiry form here bring a free call back from an FCA-authorised adviser about your gaps and plans.