Policy paper

State Pension top up

Voluntary Class 3A contributions for people reaching State Pension age before 6 April 2016 to increase their additional State Pension.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 5 December 2013
• Last updated: 2 April 2014 — See all updates

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Documents

Class 3A Voluntary National Insurance: policy detail

PDF, 53.4 KB, 9 pages

Additional State Pension top up: Autumn Statement announcement

PDF, 14.3 KB, 1 page

Table showing amounts of the Class 3A voluntary contributions

CSV, 441 Bytes

View online

State Pension top up – Class 3A Voluntary National Insurance Contributions

PDF, 15.8 KB, 2 pages

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Details

In the Autumn Statement 2013, the government announced its intention to introduce a scheme to allow pensioners to top up their additional State Pension with a new class of voluntary National Insurance contribution, to be known as Class 3A.

In the Budget Statement in March 2014, the government announced more details about how the scheme will work. The Minister for Pensions announced further details and the rates of the Class 3A contributions in a statement on 2 April 2014.

An online calculator is available to work out the contribution needed to top up pensions.

The scheme will open in October 2015 and will be available to all pensioners who reach State Pension age before the introduction of the new State Pension in April 2016. The scheme is expected to run for 18 months.

Class 3A will give pensioners an option to top up their pension by up to £25 a week in a way that will protect them from inflation and offer protection to surviving spouses. In particular, it could help women, and those who have been self-employed, who tend to have low additional State Pension entitlement.

We have published research that provides an understanding of the likely take-up of Class 3A voluntary National Insurance contributions.

[We updated this page on 12 October 2015 to remove the email address for registering an interest because applications for the top up have now opened.]

More information

For more information visit: www.gov.uk/statepensiontopup

Published 5 December 2013
Last updated 2 April 2014 + show all updates

1. 2 April 2014

   Published further details about the new voluntary Class 3A contributions to top up State Pension.

2. 13 December 2013

   Added policy paper - Class 3A Voluntary National Insurance: policy detail

3. 5 December 2013

   First published.