Updated on 6 April 2026

Part time employment: National Insurance

If you are employed part-time and only work a few hours a week, you may not earn enough to pay any class 1 National Insurance contributions (NIC). If you are asked to work more hours, you may be worried about the effect on your National Insurance liability. Here we look at the National Insurance implications.

a person holding a clock, on the clock is a sticky note with the words 'PART TIME' in black ink.

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Earning less than the lower earnings limit

As we explain on our National Insurance for employees page, if you work part-time and earn less than the lower earnings limit (£129 a week or £559 a month for 2026/27), you pay no class 1 National Insurance (nor are treated as having paid any National Insurance). This means your entitlement to contributory benefits or the state pension could be affected if you are not otherwise entitled to National Insurance credits.

For employed earnings to count towards a qualifying year for state pension purposes, they must be earnings ‘upon which primary class 1 contributions have been paid or treated as paid’. The annual threshold for earnings to make a year a qualifying one is defined as 52 times the weekly lower earnings limit for the year. In 2026/27, this is £6,708 (£129 x 52). You can read more about how your state pension is affected by your National Insurance record on our page National Insurance and the state pension.

Therefore, while you do not need to earn over the lower earnings limit in each and every week of the tax year, weekly earnings below this threshold (or monthly earnings below the monthly threshold, if monthly paid) will not count. Similarly, earnings exceeding the upper earnings limit are also ignored in working out the total amount to be tested against the annual threshold to determine whether the year is a qualifying one. There is no averaging in the calculation.

Example – fluctuating income and the lower earnings limit

Mustafa is a low earner and is confused because although he thinks he has earned more than the required amount for a qualifying year, he has been told he doesn’t have a qualifying year.

In 2026/27, he earns £190.50 a week for 26 weeks of the year, but only £100 a week for the other 26 weeks of the year. Although his earnings in total will exceed the £6,708 amount, he will not have a qualifying year. This is because his earnings in weeks where he exceeds the weekly lower earnings limit of £129 a week only reach £4,953 (£190.50 x 26).

On the other hand, he might have been able to ‘bank’ 2026/27 as a qualifying year if he had earned, say, £350 a week for only 20 weeks of the year. This is because, in this scenario, his earnings in weeks where he earns over the lower earnings limit of £129 would total £7,000 (£350 x 20), which is more than the £6,708 amount.

Earning more than the lower earnings limit

As we explain on our National Insurance for employees page, if your earnings are between the lower earnings limit and the primary threshold for a particular pay period, your class 1 National Insurance will be ‘treated as paid’. This means the period will count towards your National Insurance record for the year, without you actually having to pay any class 1 contributions.

Example – earnings above the lower earnings limit

Lucy currently earns £110 per week from her part-time job. She pays no tax or class 1 National Insurance. Her employer offers her some additional hours. If she accepts the additional hours, she will earn £135 per week.

At present Lucy's earnings are below the lower earnings limit of £129 for class 1 National Insurance contributions. This means that she may not be entitled to contributory benefits and is not accruing qualifying years for state pension purposes unless she receives National Insurance credits for another reason.

By increasing her hours, Lucy's earnings will rise above the lower earnings limit (£129 per week) for class 1 National Insurance purposes. However, as her earnings are below the primary threshold of £242 per week, she does not actually pay class 1 contributions; instead, she ‘pays’ National Insurance at a nil rate - meaning her National Insurance record filled for those weeks.

This means she could gain entitlement to contributory benefits and potentially a qualifying year for state pension purposes, without having to pay any class 1 National Insurance. She is also not earning enough to pay any income tax on her employment income, so she will be able to keep the whole of her £135 per week, although it may affect any state benefits that she receives.

However, if her earnings increase above the primary threshold (£242 in 2026/27), she will have to start paying class 1 National Insurance at a rate of 8% on the excess.

Note that a change in your earnings and/or working hours can affect your entitlement to universal credit or other state benefits, so it is worth considering the overall picture. You might need to take advice.

Seasonal workers coming to the UK

Seasonal workers who come to the UK from overseas will normally be liable to pay National Insurance on their UK earnings, unless they earn less than the primary threshold (£242 per week or £1,048 per month for 2026/27). Unlike income tax, National Insurance is generally assessed per pay period rather than annually.

Therefore, if you are a seasonal worker and only work in the UK for part of the tax year, you cannot usually get a refund of the National Insurance.

If you paid National Insurance during your time in the UK, however, the contributions may help to determine whether you are eligible for benefits under another country’s social security system.

There is more information in our page National Insurance in cross-border situations.