Class 3A National Insurance Contributions
A new class of National Insurance was first announced in the Autumn Statement in December 2013. The new class of voluntary National Insurance Contributions – Class 3A is aimed at existing pensioners and those workers reaching the state pension age before 6 April 2016 to have the opportunity to gain additional State Pension by making Class 3A contributions. This should provide an opportunity for pensioners to improve their retirement income by obtaining inflation-proofed extra additional State Pension.
This measure is in addition to the existing Class 3 Voluntary National Insurance Contributions which allow people to fill gaps in their contributions record for basic State Pension and will probably be most relevant to women and the self-employed giving them an opportunity to top-up their entitlement to the additional state pension.
The rate of Class 3A contributions have been set at an actuarially fair rate and those eligible will be able to pay Class 3A contributions from 12 October 2015 and 5 April 2017. There is a £25 per week maximum amount that the additional contributions can provide. Any of readers affected by this change should seek advice to ensure they are making the optimum contributions.