Updated on 6 April 2026

National Insurance for the self-employed

If you are self-employed, you may have to pay National Insurance contributions (NIC). For more general information on National Insurance, visit our National Insurance page. If you want information on how to get a National Insurance number (NINO) or what to do if you have lost or forgotten your National Insurance number, see our National Insurance numbers page.

a desk with a calculator, glasses, folders, and a chalk board with the word 'SELF-EMPLOYED' written on it.

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Content on this page:

Overview

There are two different classes of National Insurance that may be relevant to you if you are self-employed: class 2 and class 4.

Class 2 National Insurance contributions build-up weekly and are relevant for the purposes of your future state pension entitlement and for benefits purposes. In most cases, you do not actually have to pay anything towards these contributions, though you may choose to voluntarily.

Class 4 National Insurance contributions are calculated annually, based on your taxable profit for the year. These contributions do not count towards your future entitlement to state pension or benefits.

We look at both classes of National Insurance in more detail below.

If you are a married woman or widow and you are entitled to pay reduced rate contributions, you do not need to pay class 2 National Insurance – see the heading Reduced rate contributions below for more information. There are also special rules relating to share fishermen, volunteer development workers, and those engaged as examiners and exam markers, which you can read about on GOV.UK.

In rare cases, income for National Insurance purposes might include income from property letting (see GOV.UK) or from cryptoassets.

Registering for class 2 and class 4 National Insurance

When you register with HMRC as self-employed, the registration covers both income tax and National Insurance. You can find out about registration at Self-employment: registering for tax and National Insurance.

If you do not register your self-employment with HMRC, then any class 2 National Insurance payments may be rejected by HMRC, or class 2 National Insurance payments you are treated as having made may not be recorded. It is not sufficient to state on your tax return that you have started self-employment. Instead, you should follow HMRC’s registration process for the self-employed (or advise them separately you have started self-employment), even if you are already completing self assessment tax returns for other reasons.

Paying class 2 and class 4 National Insurance

Class 4 National Insurance is calculated and paid along with income tax due, through the self assessment system. If you make payments on account, then your class 4 National Insurance will be included when calculating the instalments. If you do not pay your tax through payments on account, then class 4 National Insurance will usually be due on 31 January following the end of the tax year to which it relates.

If you are paying class 2 National Insurance voluntarily, this is usually paid as part of the payment due on 31 January following the end of the tax year. It is not included in any payments on account that might also be due.

If you are treated as having paid class 2 National Insurance (which we explain in more detail below) then you should ensure your tax return is filed before the self assessment deadline, so that your National Insurance record can be updated in time for any contributory benefits which rely on that deemed payment.

If you have to rely on class 2 National Insurance for entitlement of certain benefits, for example maternity allowance, and you are not treated as having already paid class 2 National Insurance (see the below heading Class 2 National Insurance – voluntary contributions), you may need to pay your class 2 National Insurance before the self assessment deadline. We explain why under the heading Maternity allowance later in this page.

Class 2 National Insurance – more detail

Class 2 National Insurance contributions work on a weekly basis for the purposes of your National Insurance record. The contributions rates are set out below.

	2026/27 Tax year	2025/26 Tax year
Rate of class 2 National Insurance	£3.65 per week	£3.50 per week

However, for most people these rates are notional – class 2 NIC is ‘treated as paid’, provided you have sufficient profits. The only time you would need to pay these weekly amounts is if your profits from self-employment are less than the relevant threshold and choose to make voluntary class 2 contributions. We look at both situations below.

Class 2 National Insurance treated as paid

As mentioned above, Class 2 National Insurance is ‘treated as paid’ provided you have profits exceeding a certain level. This is called the small profits threshold. The small profits threshold is £7,105 in 2026/27 and was £6,845 in 2025/26.

If your profits are less than the small profits threshold then your class 2 National Insurance will not be treated as paid. This means you will not build up a qualifying year for your National Insurance record – which could in turn affect your entitlement to benefits and future state pension. In this situation, you may wish to pay voluntary class 2 National Insurance to protect your entitlement.

Class 2 National Insurance – Voluntary contributions

You might choose to pay class 2 National Insurance even if your earnings are below the small profits threshold.

This is because you may want to protect your eligibility to certain state benefits. Eligibility for some state benefits relies on you having paid a certain amount of class 2 National Insurance within a defined time.

The two benefits most likely to be affected are maternity allowance and in some specific circumstances, new-style employment and support allowance (ESA). See the headings below on Maternity allowance and New-style employment and support allowance for more information.

If this is the case, you should contact HMRC and make arrangements to pay the class 2 National Insurance before the self assessment deadline.

The state pension also depends on you having paid or been credited with sufficient National Insurance over your working life. You need a minimum of 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record and usually a maximum of 35 years (but this can vary and will depend on your circumstances). You can read more about making voluntary class 2 contributions to protect your state pension entitlement on our page National Insurance and the state pension.

Example – State pension considerations - class 2 National Insurance and National Insurance credits

George is a self-employed car mechanic working four days a week. His profit is usually around £20,000 per year and, as a result, he will be treated as having paid class 2 National Insurance for the 2026/27 tax year.

He has recently checked his state pension forecast and sees that he has 31 qualifying years for National Insurance.

George’s adult daughter, Mia, has a three-year-old child and she would like to be able to return to work full-time. George would like to reduce his working hours to help Mia with childcare. George decides that from April 2026, he will only work a day or so a week and, as a result, he expects his income from self-employment to be around £5,000 per year. This is below the self-employment small profits threshold, which means George will not be required to pay class 2 National Insurance, nor will he be treated as having paid class 2 National Insurance.

Mia receives child benefit payments which come with a class 3 National Insurance credit attached to them, which she will no longer need after returning to work. George and Mia therefore decide to jointly apply for specified adult childcare credits to be applied to George. As George is entitled to this special type of National Insurance credit, he will have a qualifying year (for each tax year that he continues to help with childcare while Mia is working) and does not need to pay voluntary class 2 contributions to maintain his state pension entitlement.

Note however, class 3 National Insurance credits only count towards state pension entitlement. George will not be protecting his entitlement to other contributory state benefits.

The amount of class 2 National Insurance payable is based on the number of weeks in which you are self-employed in the tax year. A week runs from a Sunday to Saturday. If a contribution week straddles two tax years, it is treated as falling in the earlier year.

For example, if your self-employment began on 2 February 2026 and your profits are below the small profits threshold for that year but you want to pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance then you should pay 10 weeks’ class 2 National Insurance for 2025/26, that is, 10 x £3.50 = £35.00 as there are 10 benefit weeks between 2 February 2026 and 5 April 2026 (that final contribution week starts on Sunday 5 April and ends on Saturday 11 April 2026, so falls into the earlier tax year).

Class 2 National Insurance and state benefits

You can find details of the benefits to which class 2 National Insurance gives entitlement on our National Insurance page.

Note that class 4 National Insurance do not count towards any state benefits.

Maternity allowance

Entitlement to maternity allowance is based on your National Insurance record in the 66 weeks before the baby is due. This period is known as the test period.

If you are self-employed then there are different amounts of maternity allowance depending on the number of weeks you have paid or been treated as having paid class 2 National Insurance. These are explained on GOV.UK.

For example, if your baby was due in August 2026, then you would have had to pay sufficient contributions in the 66 weeks leading up to that date – broadly from May 2025 to August 2026. Payment of your class 2 National Insurance for the tax year 2025/26 is not due until 31 January 2027, so these contributions would not have been paid voluntarily or treated as paid at the time you make a claim for maternity allowance. Although the class 2 contributions are not due until 31 January 2026, you can choose to pay them early. If it is the case that you pay your class 2 National Insurance early, but you should have had the contributions treated as paid as you made profits above the small profits threshold then you will be entitled to a refund of the class 2 National Insurance. You can read more about this on GOV.UK.

Paying early contributions may mean you will have paid enough to receive standard rate of maternity allowance. You can contact HMRC for help with this.

If you have not paid your contributions early or have not paid enough, when you make the claim for maternity allowance, you should be given the opportunity to make a lump sum payment of class 2 contributions to enable you to claim the standard rate maternity allowance if appropriate – HMRC will work out how many weeks contributions need to be paid and then issue a bill for this amount. Again, if it later turns out that you had profits over the small profit threshold for the tax year – meaning your class 2 National Insurance is ‘treated as paid’, you should be able to claim a refund later on.

New-style employment and support allowance

New-style employment and support allowance (ESA), previously called contribution based ESA is paid to people who are unable to work due to illness. Usually, to be paid ESA in the current benefit year (which runs from January to December) you must have paid the following National Insurance contributions:

in one of the previous two complete tax years before the benefits year, you must have paid 26 weekly contributions, and
in both of those two previous complete tax years, you must have paid or been credited with 50 weekly contributions.

For example, to claim ESA in December 2026, you must have paid at least 26 weekly contributions in either of the two tax years 2023/24 and 2024/25. In addition, you must have paid or been credited with 50 weekly contributions for both of those tax years.

You should note that there are some exceptions to the above contributions conditions for ESA, there is more information on the conditions to claim ESA on theDisability Rights UK website.

When class 2 National Insurance is payable – previous years

The rules on class 2 National Insurance have changed in recent years. Depending on the tax year and your profits for that year, class 2 National Insurance may:

be payable voluntarily
be treated as being paid
need to be paid

Tax year	Small profits threshold	Lower profits limit	Profits less than the small profits threshold	Profits between the small profits threshold and the lower profits limit	Profits above the lower profits limit
2021/22	£6,515	£9,568	Class 2 National Insurance payable voluntarily	Up to and including 2021/22, class 2 National Insurance is due	Up to and including 2023/24, class 2 National Insurance is due
2022/23	£6,725	£11,908		From 2022/23, class 2 National Insurance is treated as being paid
2023/24	£6,725	£12,570
2024/25	£6,725	£12,570			From 2024/25, class 2 National Insurance is treated as being paid
2025/26	£6,845	£12,570

If you have multiple trades, your profits are combined for the above purposes.

2024/25 Class 2 National Insurance errors

For the 2024/25 tax year some self-employed taxpayers may have been charged class 2 National Insurance because of an error made by HMRC. Upon filing their 2024/25 tax return these affected taxpayers may have received a self assessment tax calculation (SA302) stating that they owe class 2 National Insurance when they do not because their profits are above the small profits threshold (see the table above). HMRC advised that the error was identified and fixed and any taxpayers affected by the error should have had their record updated by 31 December 2025.

If you have overpaid your class 2 National Insurance because of this error, then HMRC should refund the overpayment or include it as a credit against any outstanding self assessment tax due.

Class 4 National Insurance – more detail

Class 4 National Insurance is based on the level of your taxable self-employed profits. You are only liable to pay class 4 National Insurance if your taxable profits are over the lower profits limit– which is £12,570 for both 2025/26 and 2026/27.

Class 4National Insurance is paid in profit bands as follows (figures shown for 2026/27, for earlier tax years see tax and National Insurance rates and bands):

Profit band	Class 4 National Insurance
Up to £12,570 (lower profits limit)	nil
£12,570 up to £50,270	6%
Over £50,270 (upper profits limit)	2%

Example – class 4 National Insurance calculation (lower earner)

Frank has profits of £13,000 for the tax year 2026/27. His class 4 National Insurance liability is calculated as follows:

	£
First £12,570 @ 0%	nil
On next £430 (£13,000 - £12,570) @ 6%	25.80
Total due	25.80

Frank will be treated as having paid class 2 National Insurance for the purpose of his National Insurance record but will not actually pay any class 2 National Insurance.

Example – class 4 National Insurance calculation (higher earner)

Henriette has profits of £55,000 for the tax year 2026/27. Her class 4 National Insurance liability is calculated as follows:

	£
First £12,570 @ 0%	nil
Next £37,700 (£50,270 - £12,570) @ 6%	2,262.00
£4,730 (£55,000 - £50,270) @ 2%	94.60
Total due	2,356.60

Henriette will be treated as having paid class 2 National Insurance for the purpose of her National Insurance record but will not actually pay any class 2 National Insurance.

Reaching state pension age

You normally pay National Insurance between the ages of 16 and state retirement age. You can find out your state pension age by using the calculator on GOV.UK.

Class 4 National Insurance may be payable on trading profits for the entire tax year in which you reach state pension age. Class 2 National Insurance is only treated as paid up until the week you reach state pension age.

You can find more information on National Insurance after state pension age on our separate page.

Reduced rate contributions

Married women could apply for a reduced rate of National Insurance contributions before 1977. A subsequent annulment of marriage, or divorce, immediately stops entitlement to paying reduced contributions. If you are not sure whether or not you are entitled to pay at the reduced rate you can enquire on HMRC’s form CF9 (married women) or form CF9A (widows) to find out. The same forms are used to give up your right to pay reduced rate contributions.

Employed and self-employed

Class 2 National Insurance

If you have not paid enough class 1 National Insurance to count as a full tax year of contributions towards benefits such as the state pension then you may want to consider paying class 2 National Insurance voluntarily (see the heading Voluntary class 2 National Insurance above).

Class 4 National Insurance

Usually, you will still need to pay class 4 National Insurance if you are employed and self-employed.

But if you pay a maximum amount of annual National Insurance by way of class 1, you may not need to pay the full amount of class 4 National Insurance. If this is the case, then you will have to pay 2% class 4 National Insurance on all profits above the level of £12,570 (for 2025/26 and 2026/27). Your class 4 National Insurance liability will be automatically calculated, provided that you either file online or your paper tax return is submitted by the due date (normally 31 October following the end of the tax year), as part of the self assessment process.

More information

You can find more information on class 2 National Insurance and class 4 National Insurance in the National Insurance Manual produced by HMRC.