Voluntary National Insurance contributions

Hi just enquiring I paid voluntary contributions about 3 weeks ago, do I need to call anyone to make sure they are added to the correct years.

Hi TRACEY OKEEFFE,
If you have paid through your Pension Forecast for class 3 contributions or called National Insurance to obtain your 18 digit reference number for class 3 or class 2 payments, the system will have been noted and prepared for your payment for the tax years you agreed on.
You won’t need to do anything.
If you’ve made a payment this way for class 3 and you see no changes on your Personal Tax Account after 8 weeks please contact National Insurance.

If you have made a payment for a period you were outside the UK following the CF83 application, you may need to contact National Insurance if you want specific tax years to be contributed towards.  
Call national Insurance on 0300 200 3500 from the UK or +44 191 203 7010 if calling from outside the UK
You can use the webchat function ‘ask HMRC online’  https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/ask-hmrc/chat/national-insurance
You can also write in to
PT Operations North East England
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AN
When submitting your correspondence, kindly provide your National Insurance Number, full name, current address, a contact telephone number, and a brief explanation of the purpose of your letter.
Additionally, please remember to sign and date the document, even if it is printed.
Thank you. 
 

@HMRC Admin 25, I'm living abroad and paid voluntary class 2 on June 10th; I called after paying and they confirmed they saw my payments and made a note about which years they relate to as I received 2 different HMRC letters & didn't pay all the dates. But when I login to the HMRC app & look at my contributions, those years have still not been filled in. Is there some giant backlog? I'm surprised people on the call can see the contributions paid in June 2024 but still my account isn't updated as of April 2025.

It's 2pm on deadline day (Saturday 5th April) for paying voluntary NI contributions. I've logged in to pay for my contributions for 2016/17 but I'm getting the message that it's too late!? Your thread clearly states that "From 6 April 2025, people will only be able to make voluntary National Insurance contributions for the previous 6 tax years, in line with normal time limits." https://community.hmrc.gov.uk/customerforums/ni/87f9e2a9-2ffb-ef11-bae3-6045bdcf9c56 Why am I not allowed to pay £824.20 to purchase that year please? when I checked a week ago, it clear stated "THIS OPTION IS AVAILABLE UNTIL 5 APRIL 2025" I printed it out as evidence. Now I have the money in my account to pay for it, you're not allowing me!

I paid to bring my national insurance contributions up to date on the 13 Feb with the 8 digit code given to me. I can see that the payment has been allocated and my contributions are now showing as full, but I have not heard from the pension service regarding the increase in my state pension. How long do I have to wait?

Hi Paul,
Please find guidance:
Check when you can expect a reply from HMRC.
Thank you.


 

I also tried to pay for National Insurance gaps on Saturday 5 April 2025, but it didn't give the option of making any payments. I have screenshots of this issue and can show my login history, so is there a way to make these payments now? Don't have a deadline if it's actually before that date.

My husband and I live in France.
We both filled in the necessary form online and subsequently received letters in November (me) and February (him) detailing the years we were eligible to pay for and the amounts.
We called the HMRC NI helpline on 14th March and spoke to someone in turn to advise which years we wanted to pay for, and these were duly noted on our accounts.
We then made separate bank transfers on March 17th for the amounts advised, using the codes as specified in the instructions for overseas payments (our NI number, followed by IC, followed by our surname and initials).
We also sent letters to HMRC on 28th March to re-confirm the amounts and years paid for.
So far nothing has been updated on either of our pension forecasts - they are still saying we need to pay for missing years.
We have paid almost £6000 between us and I am now getting a bit worried about where this money has gone.
I understand that there must have been a much higher than normal volume of payments before the deadline, but how long should we wait?
I have tried using the "Check when you can expect a reply" page, but this doesn't seem to have an option that answers this question.
It seems to be more about correspondence, not making payments. Can someone please advise?

Hi B C Adamsv and jw9
If you would like to pay voluntary National Insurance contributions then please call our National Insurance Helpline on 0300 200 3500 and explain about the problems that you have experienced with our website when trying to make payment. 
Full contact details at: National Insurance: general enquiries 
They will be able to help you further.
Please see guidance at: Voluntary National Insurance: How and when to pay
You can also find out about details of your National Insurance at: 
• your personal tax account 
• the official HMRC app 
Thank you.
 

Hi Yasmin Harper
Please see guidance at:
Pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance: Make an online or telephone bank transfer at the bottom under “After you’ve paid”.
Your letters submitted relating to these payments can be found within:
Check when you can expect a reply from HMRC by clicking on EU application (including Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) to pay National Insurance whilst abroad.
Outwith the time periods you can contact us at: 
National Insurance: general enquiries
If you are able then you can also find out about details of your National Insurance at: 
• your personal tax account 
• the official HMRC app 
Thank you.
 

Hi Mike,
Due to the amount of customers making payments towards their NI for tax years they were abroad, we do have a backlog.
Payments for abroad periods need to be allocated by the International Caseworkers and they are currently working at a 67 week timescale (This timescale is subject to change)
This means if your payment has yet to be allocated, you may need to wait 67 weeks from the date we received your payment to view any updates to your record.
To find out when your payment was received you need to contact the National Insurance Enquiry Helpline Insurance on:
0300 200 3500 from the UK or +44 191 203 7010 if calling from outside the UK
You can use the webchat function ‘ask HMRC online’  Ask HMRC online
You can also write in to
PT Operations North East England
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AN
When submitting your correspondence, kindly provide your National Insurance Number, full name, current address, a contact telephone number, and a brief explanation of the purpose of your letter.
Additionally, please remember to sign and date the document, even if it is printed.
Thank you.