Should you keep paying National Insurance from abroad?
A year of voluntary National Insurance costs £956.80 and adds about £358 a year to your State Pension. See how soon it pays for itself.
Your answer
Enter your qualifying years and the years until your State Pension age.
About this calculator
For people living or working abroad, or about to leave, who want to know whether filling gaps in their National Insurance record is worth it for their State Pension.
What happens to your answers
We don’t keep them. Your answers go to our server to do the sums and aren’t stored or logged. If you copy a link to your answers, they’re in the link itself, so only share it with people you trust.
How it’s worked out
Voluntary Class 3 National Insurance costs £18.40 a week in 2026/27, £956.80 for a full year. Each extra qualifying year adds 1/35 of the full new State Pension (£241.30 a week), about £358.50 a year. You need 35 years for the full amount, and at least 10 for any State Pension, so we count no more than 35 and nothing below 10.
From 6 April 2026 you can't pay Class 2 for time abroad, and Class 3 for time abroad needs 10 years in a row living in the UK or 10 years of contributions. Gaps for 2025/26 and earlier still use the old 3-year rule. We price every year at the 2026/27 rate and don't include a pre-2016 starting amount or a protected payment, so check your forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension before you pay.
Worked example
Filling 8 years costs £7,654 and adds £2,868 a year to your State Pension, so it pays for itself in 2.7 years.
20 qualifying years · 15 years to State Pension age · Class 3 at £18.40 a week
| Qualifying years on your National Insurance record now | 20 |
|---|---|
| Your State Pension on that record, a year | £7,170 |
| Gap years before April 2026 you can fill | 3 |
| Years abroad from April 2026 you'd pay for | 5 |
| Years that add to your pension (no more than 35 in all) | 8 |
| A year of voluntary National Insurance: £18.40 a week × 52 | £956.80 |
| Cost of 8 years | £7,654 |
| Each year adds 1/35 of the full State Pension (£241.30 a week) | £358.50 a year |
| Your State Pension with those years, a year | £10,038 |
| Extra State Pension, a year | £2,868 |
| Years of State Pension to get the cost back | 2.7 years |
Based on GOV.UK guidance on voluntary National Insurance and the new State Pension, 2026/27 rates.
Questions people ask
Can I still pay the cheaper Class 2 for past years?
Possibly, for 2025/26 and earlier, if you worked in the UK just before you left and worked while abroad. Class 2 costs £3.65 a week, much less than Class 3. For 2024/25 and 2025/26, Class 3 is also a little cheaper (£17.45 and £17.75 a week). Our figures use £18.40 for every year, so they may slightly overstate the cost.
Does it matter which country I retire to?
Yes. Your State Pension only goes up each year if you live in the EEA, Gibraltar, Switzerland or a country with a social security agreement with the UK (not Canada or New Zealand). Elsewhere it stays at the rate when you first claim, so it takes longer to get your money back in real terms.
I applied before 6 April 2026. Do the new rules apply to me?
Maybe not. If you applied to pay for 2024/25 or 2025/26 by 5 April 2026, pay those by 5 April 2027 and apply for 2026/27 by 5 April 2027, you may still use the old 3-year rule. Talk to us and we'll check.
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