Open data · United Kingdom
UK Voluntary NI Break-even Dataset
Reusable, live-computed UK Class 2 and Class 3 voluntary National Insurance break-even figures by tax year, derived from HMRC and DWP rates.
For the 2026/27 tax year, HMRC publishes a Class 3 voluntary rate of £18.50 a week and DWP publishes a full New State Pension of £241.30 a week. This dataset makes the arithmetic between those two official figures inspectable.
Latest answer
For 2026/27, a Class 3 qualifying year costs £962.00 and adds £358.50 a year to a full New State Pension, a simple break-even of 2.68 years of pension receipt. It only applies if the year increases the recipient's entitlement.
Embed the live comparison
Reuse this current-rate visual with its source link intact. It is illustrative only: an extra qualifying year helps only when it increases the recipient's State Pension entitlement.
Downloads and provenance
The two downloads are generated from the same live calculation as the research table. They are released under CC BY 4.0; please attribute PlainPension and the underlying official sources.
Rows in this dataset
Swipe the table to see the annual uplift and break-even columns.
| Tax year | Class 3 cost | Annual uplift | Break-even |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/26 | £923.00 | £342.09 | 2.7 years |
| 2026/27 | £962.00 | £358.50 | 2.68 years |
Method
PlainPension multiplies each official weekly voluntary contribution rate by 52, then divides the official annual full New State Pension by 35 to calculate the annual value of one qualifying year. The calculation is illustrative, not personal financial advice. Check a State Pension forecast before paying voluntary contributions.
Source: HMRC voluntary National Insurance contributions and DWP State Pension rates. Data vintage: .
PlainPension's calculators and guides reflect current UK pension rules, no figure is typed in without checking the source. The downloadable rows and the visible table use the same live HMRC and DWP rate calculation. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these figures, our data changelog of past corrections, or report an error.