Should I Optout of national insurance class 2? (small earnings exception)

bencarroll

Hi All,
I've been self employed for the last 2 years and I pay national insurance class 2 however earn a well below the small earnings exception level of £5,595. So my question is if I opted out of paying NI would I risk losing my entitlement to a basic state pension? I've tried googleing it and theres talk about losing "credits" if I do opt-out but I don't know what the impact of that would be.
Thanks a lot for you help, Ben

[Deleted User]

how many years have you paid NI as an "employee"?

pmlindyloo

There is an overview of NI contributions here:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/benefits_e/benefits_benefits_introduction_ew/national_insurance_contributions_and_benefits.htm

Basically you need to have been paying class 1 or class 2 contributions for 30 years to be entitled to a full state pension. However, it is a little more complicated than that as you can choose to pay longer than that for an entitlement to other benefits.

I would suggest that you contact HMRC with your NI number and ask them for some advice.

Notmyrealname

I wouldn't opt out. If nothing else you're entitled to Contributions Based ESA.