National Insurance for employees
Most employees pay National Insurance contributions (NIC) before they get their wages. On this page, we explain National Insurance issues that you might come across as an employee.
Content on this page:
Introduction
If you are an employee, you pay class 1 National Insurance contributions on your earnings from employment, such as your salary and bonuses. The amount you pay depends on how much you earn in a particular pay period, and on your age. See also the heading below: Reaching state pension age.
Employee National Insurance
If your income from an employment in a pay period is less than the primary threshold for that period, you do not need to pay class 1 National Insurance on that income. This threshold is aligned with the personal allowance for income tax and is £242 a week or £1,048 a month.
The actual amount of class 1 National Insurance you pay at the main 8% rate depends on the amount you earn up to the upper earnings limit, which is £967 per week or £4,189 per month for 2026/27.
For 2026/27, the weekly rates of class 1 National Insurance contributions for employees are as follows:
| On the first £242 | Nil |
| On income between £242 and £967 | 8% |
| On amount above £967 | 2% |
For 2026/27 the monthly rates of class 1 National Insurance contributions for employees are as follows:
| On the first £1,048 | Nil |
| On income between £1,048 and £4,189 | 8% |
| On amount above £4,189 | 2% |
Class 1 National Insurance contributions are generally calculated week by week or month by month, depending on whether your employer pays you weekly or monthly. It is not cumulative like income tax deducted under Pay As You Earn (PAYE). This means that the amount of class 1 National Insurance you pay in one week (or month) is not affected by the amount you have paid in previous weeks (or months) in the tax year.
Please note there are special rules that apply for company directors. Class 1 National Insurance for company directors is charged based on their annual earnings. You can read more about this on GOV.UK.
Employer National Insurance
Your employer pays a different type of class 1 National Insurance on your earnings. Sometimes they will show the amounts that they have paid in employer National Insurance for your information on your payslip – but it should not be deducted from your pay.
You may also come across class 1A and class 1B National Insurance. You will not pay these contributions as an employee, but you might hear them mentioned, so it is good to know what they are:
- Class 1A National Insurance is paid by your employer if they provide you with certain benefits-in-kind – for example, a car for private use. The employer pays the National Insurance on the value of the benefit-in-kind.
- Class 1B National Insurance is paid by your employer if they enter into a special arrangement with HMRC called a PAYE settlement agreement. This is where your employer pays the income tax due on certain benefits-in-kind and expenses payments.
Earnings below the weekly/monthly thresholds
If you earn less than the lower earnings limit (£129 a week for 2026/27), you pay no class 1 National Insurance, nor are you treated as having paid any, and so you do not get any contributions registered on your National Insurance record.
If you have earnings above the lower earnings limit (£129 per week or £559 per month for 2026/27) but below the primary threshold (£242 per week or £1,048 per month for 2026/27) you are treated as having paid National Insurance without actually having to make a payment. Essentially, your National Insurance record is registered with contributions at nil cost to you.
This type of ‘free’ National Insurance registered to your record is different from the type of National Insurance credits that you can sometimes get in certain circumstances, where you are unable to work or have limited ability to work. We discuss these on our page National Insurance credits.
Paying (or being treated as having paid) National Insurance through at least one job can help you qualify for the state pension and certain other contribution-based benefits. You will usually need 35 qualifying years' worth of contributions to get the full amount of the state pension (you should be able to get a pro-rata amount provided you have at least ten qualifying years). You have until you reach state pension age to make those contributions. You can read more about this on our page National Insurance and the state pension.
You can read more about which benefits depend on your National Insurance record on our page National Insurance.
Having more than one job
For class 1 National Insurance, there are separate thresholds available for each job so long as it is with a different employer, unless you are a director of a company (or you work for jobs for the same employer, or associated employers). You can read more about this on our page Multiple Jobs.
National Insurance contributions deferment
If, in the 2026/27 tax year you have two jobs, and expect to pay class 1 National Insurance on weekly earnings of at least £967 throughout the whole tax year in one of the jobs, you can ask to defer payment of National Insurance contributions in the other job. If you are paid monthly, you must expect to pay class 1 National Insurance on monthly earnings of at least £4,189 throughout the whole tax year in one of the jobs.
You make an application for deferment of class 1 National Insurance using form CA72A. If you need them there are guidance notes you can download from the same page of GOV.UK.
Employed and self-employed
If you are both employed and self-employed you need to pay:
- class 1 National Insurance on your employed income; and
- class 4 National Insurance on your self-employed income.
You will pay your class 1 National Insurance contributions each pay period. Your class 4 National Insurance is usually paid together with your income tax liabilities in your payments on account and balancing payment, via your annual tax return. For class 4 National Insurance if you do not come within the payments on account regime, then you usually have to pay any amounts that you owe to HMRC by 31 January following the end of the tax year in question.
Where someone is both employed and self-employed there is an annual maximum of contributions that is due – there is a link to further information at the end of this page. Therefore, you may not need to pay full class 4 National Insurance if you have paid sufficient class 1 contributions on your employment income. You can read more about National Insurance contributions for the self-employed in our National Insurance for the self-employment page.
Fluctuating pay
Sometimes you see the National Insurance thresholds given in annual amounts, as well as weekly or monthly amounts. However, you pay class 1 National Insurance contributions based on the amount you earn in each pay period, whether that is a week or a month. You do not pay class 1 National Insurance contributions based on your total earnings for the whole year. As mentioned above, it is not cumulative like income tax deducted under Pay As You Earn (PAYE).
For most employees (those who are not directors), if you earn more than the primary threshold (£242 per week or £1,048 per month for 2026/27) in any particular pay period, weekly or monthly, you pay class 1 National Insurance, even if your annual earnings divided by 52 weeks or 12 months are less than the primary threshold. If your earnings fluctuate, you may find that you pay National Insurance in some pay periods but not in others.
Look at the following examples to see how this works.
Reduced rate contributions
If you are a woman, who married before 6 April 1977, you could have elected by 12 May 1977 to pay reduced rate class 1 National Insurance. You can find more information about this on GOV.UK.
Reaching state pension age
If you are an employee, you normally pay class 1 National Insurance from age 16 until you reach state pension age. You can work out your state pension age using the calculator on GOV.UK.
You can find more information on National Insurance after state pension age on our separate page.
Further information
HMRC’s detailed technical guidance on National Insurance, including the annual maximum calculation, is available in HMRC’s NIC Manual.
If you have come from abroad to work in the UK, you can find some information about your National Insurance position in our International section.
It is rare for employees to have overpaid National Insurance. There is information on how to claim a refund in the certain limited circumstances that exist in our main National Insurance page.
