Voluntary contribution for this year from abroad plus the new ten year rule

kissanpoika

I have two questions.

I'm British and married to an EU citizen. We lived in the UK for just over a decade before moving to her home country together. We did the voluntary catchup payments to fill in all the missing years whilst they were open and so currently I have 29 years of contributions paid and she has 21 years.

I see in the budget they're closing the Class 2 option for those overseas, which will up the cost for both of us to get to the 35 years needed. For tax year 2024/25, we got a letter around July 25 telling us the amount to pay to catch that year up. If we wait until next July I assume that means it would be at the Class 3 rate. Is there a way to pay the contributions for tax year 25/26 as a voluntary overseas payment already so we'd get one final year as Class 2? Or do we have to wait until the final amount is confirmed at the Class 3 rate after the tax year has closed? If we can get one final year at the Class 2 rate that would be a handy saving.

Then, on the ten year rule, is there clarity on exactly how that will work? As I said, my wife lived in the UK for just over a decade uninterrupted but I was initially supporting her and then she set up a business which took a little time to get off the ground so there weren't contributions initially. Whilst the business went well in time, I think it would be something like 8 years where she was paying over the minimum NIC contributions threshold before we moved back here. I'm trying to work out how they will classify the ten years as she was in the UK but not claiming from the system or fulfilling the full years contributions for around the first 3 years of her 11 in the UK. Or is it irrelevant in her case because, with the catchup payments, she now has 21 years?

Suhusa

Given the length of your record, the 35 years rule is not going to be relevant to you - it's only relevant to people like me who started to contribute from 2016 onwards. You need to check your state pension forecast to see how many more years you both need. Contributions up to the current financial year aren't going to be affected, so even if you pay late the should be at Class 2 rates. Any further details haven't been published yet including what hepoens with people who are already paying but wouldn't satisfy the 10 year criterion on a new application - I assume that it's them that the promised 'transitional arrangements' on the page on the changes (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-for-periods-spent-abroad/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-for-periods-abroad-from-april-2026) are for.

p00hsticks

Suhusa said:

Given the length of your record, the 35 years rule is not going to be relevant to you - it's only relevant to people like me who started to contribute from 2016 onwards. You need to check your state pension forecast to see how many more years you both need. Contributions up to the current financial year aren't going to be affected, so even if you pay late the should be at Class 2 rates. Any further details haven't been published yet including what hepoens with people who are already paying but wouldn't satisfy the 10 year criterion on a new application - I assume that it's them that the promised 'transitional arrangements' on the page on the changes (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-for-periods-spent-abroad/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-for-periods-abroad-from-april-2026) are for.

Thanks for that link but there is a superfluous bracket at the end which resutls in the page not being found.
The correct version is here
Voluntary National Insurance contributions for periods abroad from April 2026 - GOV.UK

QrizB

kissanpoika said:

Then, on the ten year rule, is there clarity on exactly how that will work? ... Or is it irrelevant in her case because, with the catchup payments, she now has 21 years?

I don't have the reference to hand, but my reading of the announcement was that if you already had ten yearsnof NI credits then you'd still be eligible to pay Class 3 contributions for future years.