Class 2 for time abroad ended on 6 April 2026. What expats can still pay, the new 10-year Class 3 gate, CF83, the deadlines, and whether buying UK State Pension years is worth it.
If you left the UK with gaps in your National Insurance record, filling those gaps with voluntary contributions has long been one of the cheapest ways to buy guaranteed lifetime income — but the rules changed fundamentally on 6 April 2026. From that date you can no longer pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance for time spent abroad; Class 3 is the only class available for periods abroad, and new applicants must have either lived in the UK for 10 years in a row or already built 10 qualifying years on their record. Before paying anything, check your State Pension forecast: a year only helps if it actually moves the forecast.
Rates, thresholds and deadlines below were verified against GOV.UK on 3 October 2026 and apply to the 2026-27 UK tax year unless stated otherwise.
Two numbers govern everything. GOV.UK is explicit that "you'll need 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any new State Pension" — below that you receive nothing, however close you are. Above it, each qualifying year buys a slice.
For the full rate, the number depends on when your record began. If your National Insurance record started after April 2016, GOV.UK states you "will need 35 qualifying years to get the full rate of new State Pension". If it started before April 2016 — which covers most people who worked in Britain in the 1990s or 2000s — "you will usually need more than 35 qualifying years to get the full rate", because your entitlement is calculated through transitional rules that take account of the old scheme and of any period you were contracted out.
That last point matters more than anything else here. Two people with identical 28-year records can have materially different forecasts, so buying a year can be worth the full slice to one and nothing to the other. This is why the forecast, not the arithmetic, is the starting point.
The full rate rose by 4.8% for 2026-27, from £230.25 to £241.30 a week. The full basic State Pension — the older scheme, for those who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016 — rose to £184.90 a week.
GOV.UK's own warning is blunt: "Voluntary contributions do not always increase your State Pension, for example if you were contracted out." Paying first and checking later is the single most expensive mistake in this area, because refunds are not a matter of right.
Work through it in this order:
1. Check your State Pension forecast. The Check your State Pension forecast service shows how much you could get, when you can get it, whether you can increase it, and "how you could increase it (for example, by paying to fill gaps)".
2. Read your National Insurance record. The National Insurance record service shows what you have paid "up to the start of the current tax year (6 April 2026)" plus any credits you have received, and identifies which years are not qualifying years.
3. Model the specific years. The service shows "how your State Pension forecast will change if you decide to pay voluntary contributions" — so you can see, year by year, whether a payment moves the number.
4. Confirm with the Future Pension Centre. GOV.UK directs people below State Pension age to contact the Future Pension Centre; those already at State Pension age should contact the Pension Service. Get the answer on the record before you commit.
5. Only then apply using form CF83.
A "gap" is a tax year in which contributions or credits were insufficient for the year to count. GOV.UK puts it as: "gaps in contributions or credits mean some years do not count towards your State Pension (they are not 'qualifying years')". Gaps are common for anyone who emigrated mid-career, took unpaid leave, was self-employed below the profits threshold, or worked abroad for an overseas employer.
For years, the headline attraction for expatriates was voluntary Class 2 — a fraction of the cost of Class 3 for the same qualifying year. That route has closed for new periods.
GOV.UK now states plainly that you "cannot pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions for time abroad from 6 April 2026 onwards", while confirming you "can still pay contributions for time spent abroad before 6 April 2026". The underlying measure "removes access to pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance contributions for periods abroad from the start of the 2026 to 2027 tax year and onwards", with limited exceptions for people covered by a social security agreement and for volunteer development workers.
Two consequences follow, and they pull in opposite directions.
For periods before 6 April 2026, Class 2 may still be in play. The change is prospective; earlier tax years are unaffected. If you were employed or self-employed in the UK immediately before leaving and were working abroad, the old conditions govern those years — and the six-year time limit, not the 2026 reform, decides whether they remain payable.
For 2026-27 onwards, Class 3 is the only route, and it is now gated. New applications require one of the following, per the NI38 guidance: you have "paid Class 1 National Insurance contributions for the first 52 weeks of your employment abroad"; you have "lived in the UK for a continuous 10-year period, at any time before"; or before going abroad you "paid 10 years of National Insurance contributions". Critically, voluntary contributions paid while abroad do not count towards that 10-year test, except those made under a social security agreement or by volunteer development workers.
Read that against the 10-year minimum for any pension at all and the position is stark: someone who left Britain early in their career with six qualifying years and no decade of UK residence can no longer buy their way to the 10-year threshold from abroad. The people who most needed the relief are now outside it. If that is your position, establish it in writing with HMRC.
There is a transitional path, and it is time-limited. To pay Class 3 for 2026-27 under it, GOV.UK requires that you "applied to pay voluntary Class 2 or Class 3 National Insurance contributions for the 2024 to 2025 or 2025 to 2026 tax year on or before 5 April 2026"; that you "pay or have paid the voluntary National Insurance contributions you applied for on or before 5 April 2027"; and that you "must apply to pay Class 3 National Insurance contributions for the 2026 to 2027 tax year on or before 5 April 2027". The guidance also refers to having received "a letter from HMRC telling you that your voluntary Class 2 National Insurance contributions arrangement for time spent abroad has ended". HMRC said it would write to affected Class 2 payers in July 2026, so those letters have been issued. Existing Class 3 payers may continue without reapplying or meeting the new criteria.
| | Class 2 (periods before 6 April 2026) | Class 3 (2026-27 onwards) |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Closed for 2026-27 onwards; still possible for earlier periods within the time limit | The only class available for periods abroad, subject to conditions |
| Who qualifies | You worked in the UK immediately before leaving and you were working abroad; plus three years' continuous UK residence or three years' qualifying contributions | 10 years' continuous UK residence, or 10 qualifying years paid before going abroad, or Class 1 paid for the first 52 weeks of employment abroad |
| Weekly cost | £3.65 for 2026-27; earlier years are paid at the 2026-27 rate, except the immediately preceding year | £18.40 |
| Approximate cost of one year | About £190 | About £957 |
| Counts towards new State Pension | Yes | Yes |
| Other benefits | Also counts towards contributory Employment and Support Allowance and Bereavement Support Payment | Does not count towards Bereavement Support Payment |
| How to apply | Form CF83 | Form CF83 |
On rates for older years, GOV.UK's rule is specific: Class 2 for the preceding tax year and Class 3 for the previous two tax years are charged at the original rates for those years, but "if you're paying for any earlier years, you'll pay the rate for 2026 to 2027."
The general rule is short: "You can only pay voluntary contributions for the past 6 years. The deadline is 5 April each year." GOV.UK's own worked example is that you have until 5 April 2032 to make up gaps for the 2025-26 tax year.
Applying that rule as at today, the oldest year still open during 2026-27 is 2020-21, which closes on 5 April 2027 — and a further year drops away every 5 April. Treat that as arithmetic from the published rule and confirm your own position with HMRC before relying on it.
One point deserves emphasis because it has caused real losses. The extended window that once allowed payment for much older years has passed: the GOV.UK deadlines page now sets out only the six-year rule, and there is no general extension in force for pre-2020 years as at 3 October 2026. If you have seen advice about buying back years from 2006 onwards, it is out of date.
Separately, former Class 2 payers face the 5 April 2027 transitional deadline above — two different clocks, same date, different reasons.
Take someone whose record began after April 2016, so the clean 35-year rule applies, who is below State Pension age and whose forecast confirms that an extra year adds a full slice.
Those numbers explain why the topic attracts attention. They are also incomplete. The State Pension is uprated annually, so the income side tends to grow; against that, money paid now is money not invested elsewhere, the pension is taxable income, and the calculation only pays off if you live well beyond break-even. HMRC confirms the exact amount due for each year, which may differ slightly from 52 times the weekly rate.
This is arithmetic, not advice. Whether it suits you depends on your forecast, your other pension provision, your health and your tax position where you live. We do not give investment or pension advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to pay.
The UK and the USA have a social security agreement; the USA appears on GOV.UK's list of agreement countries and among those for which a certificate of coverage can be obtained. The agreement's function, in GOV.UK's words, is that a certificate of coverage shows "that you pay National Insurance in the UK and do not need to pay social security contributions in the country where you work" — in other words, it allocates which country's scheme you contribute to for a period of work, preventing double contributions.
Three practical observations for Americans and dual filers.
First, the Class 2 exception surviving the 2026 reform is framed around people covered by a social security agreement. If you work in the USA under that agreement, your position may differ from the general rule — establish it with HMRC rather than inferring it.
Second, voluntary Class 3 contributions build entitlement under the UK scheme only. They are not a payment into the US system, and GOV.UK does not present them as creating or affecting US credits. How the two records interact for your own benefit calculation is a question for the two administrations and your adviser.
Third, a UK State Pension is income. GOV.UK confirms that total taxable income "could include: the State Pension you get (either the basic State Pension or the new State Pension)". A US citizen or green card holder files on worldwide income, so a UK State Pension in payment has a US dimension as well as a UK one, and the treaty position needs to be taken deliberately rather than assumed. Our note on how US tax treats UK pensions and SIPPs covers the general landscape, and which country you pay social security to deals with the contribution side. If you are also drawing US benefits while resident in Britain, see US Social Security for UK residents.
Most of this you can do yourself: the forecast, the record, the CF83. It gets harder when the forecast does not behave as the 35-year rule suggests, when contracting out is in the mix, when you are arguing a position on the 10-year gate, or when a UK State Pension has to sit alongside a US return and a treaty claim. The right sequence is a verified forecast, then a written HMRC position, then the tax analysis.
Our UK work is reviewed and signed off by an ACCA-qualified accountant, and US filings by a licensed CPA or Enrolled Agent. If your position spans both systems, our tax specialists for US and UK can look at the whole picture; see what we charge or book a consultation.