BUZZ ACCOUNTINGWhat is a bought NI year actually worth?
A qualifying year adds about £358 a year to your State Pension for life. A gap year up to 2025/26 costs about £182 at Class 2 rates; a Class 3 year from 2026/27 costs about £957. This works out the payback, including the frozen-country effect.
Free · no email · 2026/27 rates
Your years, and which class you pay
| Total cost to buy | — |
| Added to your State Pension | — |
| Value over 20 years of retirement | — |
Class 2 abroad ended on 6 April 2026
From 2026/27 the voluntary rate abroad is Class 3, at £18.40 a week. Gap years from 2020/21 to 2025/26 can still be bought at Class 2 rates, about £182 a year, and 2020/21 closes on 5 April 2027.
What a year costs and what it adds
A qualifying year of National Insurance adds about £358 a year to your State Pension, for the rest of your life (2026/27 rates). Class 2 for time abroad was abolished from 6 April 2026, so every year from 2026/27 is Class 3, at £18.40 a week or about £957 a year. That repays in under three years of drawing the pension.
Gap years up to 2025/26 can still be bought at Class 2 rates, about £182 a year, which repays in about six months. Those years close one at a time, starting with 2020/21 on 5 April 2027.
Class 2 or Class 3
For a gap year up to 2025/26, Class 2 rates apply if you were employed or self-employed immediately before you left the UK, had lived in the UK for at least three years or paid three years of contributions, and were working abroad in that year. Otherwise the year is Class 3.
From 2026/27, new Class 3 applicants abroad need ten years' continuous UK residence or ten years of UK contributions. People already paying Class 3 before April 2026 carry on.
HMRC decides the class when it processes your CF83 application, not you. Applications from abroad take months, so this is worth starting well before a deadline rather than in the week of one.
The six-year window, and the deadline nobody announces
You can fill gaps going back six tax years, and that window rolls. In 2026/27 the open years are 2020/21 to 2025/26, all at Class 2 rates if you qualified. Every 5 April the oldest year closes permanently, starting with 2020/21 on 5 April 2027.
When the honest answer is no
- You already have 35 qualifying years. More years add nothing to the new State Pension at all. This is the first thing the review checks and it saves people thousands.
- You are retiring somewhere the pension is frozen. In Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong and most of the world outside the EEA, your State Pension never rises again once you claim it. The years are still worth buying, but their real value erodes every year of retirement — which changes how many to buy and when.
- Credits you have forgotten. Years of child benefit, carer's allowance or certain benefits may already be on your record as credits.
The £149 review pulls your actual record from HMRC rather than guessing at it, establishes which class you qualify for, works out which specific years are worth buying and in what order, and files the CF83.
Asked about this constantly
Class 2 or Class 3 — which am I?
Class 2 for time abroad ended on 6 April 2026, so every year from 2026/27 is Class 3, at £18.40 a week. Gap years up to 2025/26 can still be paid at Class 2 rates if you were working immediately before you left and working abroad in that year. New Class 3 applicants need ten years' UK residence or contributions. HMRC decides when it processes your CF83.
How far back can I go?
Six tax years, on a rolling window. In 2026/27 that is 2020/21 to 2025/26, all still payable at Class 2 rates if you qualify. 2020/21 closes on 5 April 2027.
Is it worth it if my pension will be frozen?
Usually still yes, but less so. In a frozen country the pension never rises again after you claim it, so the real value erodes each year — which changes how many years to buy and when.
What if I already have 35 years?
Then more years add nothing to the new State Pension. Checking that first is the whole point of the £149 review, and it is the finding that saves people the most.
Everything else you can work out here
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Tick your ties and see how many days you can spend in the UK this tax year before the ties test makes you resident.
Open the tool →60-day CGT deadline
Enter your completion date for the exact filing deadline, the days left, and where the penalties stand if it has passed.
Open the tool →Landlord refund estimator
Your agent withholds 20% of the rent, not of the profit. Estimate how much of it comes back on the return.
Open the tool →Split-year checker
In the year you moved, which of the eight split-year cases is likely to apply — and what it is worth.
Open the tool →