National Insurance after retirement
You pay National Insurance contributions (NICs) to build up your entitlement to certain state benefits, including the state pension. We look at what happens to your NIC payments once you reach state pension age.
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NICs once you reach state pension age
If you stop working when you reach state pension age, you will not have any earned income, and you will not have to pay NICs. However, you might continue to work, and therefore we set out how the different classes of National Insurance contributions are impacted by reaching state pension age.
Class 1 NICs
If you are an employee, you normally pay class 1 NICs.
However, as soon as you reach state pension age, you stop paying class 1 NICs if you carry on working as an employee. You only have to pay class 1 NICs on any earnings that were due to be paid to you before you reached state pension age.
If you stay in employment after state pension age, you can show your employer proof of your age (birth certificate or passport) so that they stop taking NICs from your wages.
Your employer still has to pay class 1 employer NICs if you continue working as an employee beyond your state pension age. Although this amount may appear on your payslip, it should not be a deduction from your pay.
Class 2 NIC
As discussed on our page NIC for the self-employed class 2 NICs are no longer payable from the 2024/25 tax year onwards. However, you may still be ‘treated as having paid’ class 2 NIC for all weeks up until you reach state pension age, provided your self-employed profit is more than the small profit threshold of £6,845 (2025/26 tax year). Class 2 NIC will no longer be ‘treated as paid’ once you reach state pension age.
You cannot pay voluntary class 2 NICs in respect of a period that falls after you have reached state pension age, but see the heading below covering situations where you can make backdated voluntary contributions.
Class 3 NICs
Class 3 NICs are voluntary contributions that you might pay to ensure you gain a qualifying year for your National Insurance record. For example, you might choose to pay Class 3 NICs if you are not paying sufficient contributions through work, nor are you receiving National Insurance credits. You can read more about class 3 NICs in our page National Insurance and more about credits in our pages National Insurance credits and Specified adult childcare credits.
You cannot pay voluntary class 3 NICs in respect of a period after you have reached state pension age but see heading below for situations where you can make backdated voluntary NICs.
Class 4 NICs
If you are self-employed you might also pay class 4 NICs. Whether you have to pay class 4 NICs depends on your level of self-employment profits.
Class 4 NICs are an annual charge. This means you might still have to pay them on any taxable profits for the whole tax year in which you reach state pension age. You will be exempt from paying class 4 NICs from the beginning of the following tax year.
In other words, you stop paying class 4 NICs from the start of the tax year after the one in which you reach state pension age.
Backdated voluntary NICs
Once you reach state pension age you are no longer entitled to pay voluntary NICs. However, you may be able to make contributions for tax years prior to reaching state pension age. This might be worthwhile if you do not have enough qualifying years to gain the full entitlement to state pension. you can read more about this on our page National Insurance and the state pension.
You can only make backdated voluntary NICs in respect of six previous tax years. If you wish to make backdated contributions but have already reached state pension age, you should contact the Pension Service to discuss your options.
Up until 5 April 2025, it was possible to make voluntary contributions for back as far as the 2006/07 tax year. This extended window has now closed. If you submitted a DWP call back request before 5 April 2025 then you might still be able to make contributions after the deadline.
Overpaid NICs
You might find that you overpay NICs in certain circumstances, including if, in error, you continue to pay NIC once you have reached your state pension age. If you think this might apply to you look at our page National Insurance.
