National Insurance Calculator 2026-27

Class 1 Employee National Insurance is charged on earnings above the Primary Threshold of £12,570 per year. For the 2026/27 tax year, the rate is 8% on earnings between £12,570 and £50,270 (the Upper Earnings Limit), then 2% on everything above £50,270. Someone on £35,000 pays nothing on the first £12,570 and 8% on the £22,430 above it, which comes to £1,794.40 across the year, or £149.53 a month.

NI is calculated on a per-pay-period basis, so weekly and monthly thresholds differ slightly from the annual figures. This calculator uses annualised thresholds for simplicity, which gives results that match HMRC's annual calculation to within a few pence. It also assumes you are below State Pension age, since employee contributions stop at that point even if you carry on working.

The shape of the charge follows its origins. Employee NI was designed to fund contributory benefits such as the State Pension, ESA and JSA, and the 8% main rate between the Primary Threshold and the Upper Earnings Limit reflects the principle that NI taps middle earnings most heavily. The drop to 2% above £50,270 comes from the argument that higher earners already pay 40% income tax, so the regressive design is dampened at the top. Earnings between the Lower Earnings Limit of £6,708 and the Primary Threshold pay no cash NI at all yet still earn qualifying years towards the State Pension.

That 8% headline is the product of three cuts in quick succession. The main rate stood at 12% until 5 January 2024, fell to 10% from 6 January 2024, then reached 8% on 6 April 2024. The cuts were estimated to save median earners around £450 to £900 a year. The government of the day framed them as personal-tax cuts, while critics noted that frozen thresholds, the Personal Allowance and the higher-rate threshold among them, created fiscal drag that offset most of the benefit. The 8% rate remains for 2026/27, and the thresholds stay frozen until April 2031 after the November 2025 Budget extended the freeze.

Employee contributions stop on or after your State Pension age, currently 66 and rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028, although income tax carries on as normal. Your employer keeps paying employer NI on your earnings whatever your age. Your employer will usually want proof of age, such as a birth certificate or passport; the old CA4140 age-exception certificate has not been issued since 31 December 2013. If a payroll wrongly carries on deducting employee NI past pension age, ask the employer to correct it, or claim a refund of the overpaid NI from HMRC. Self-employed Class 4 NI also stops at pension age. Compulsory Class 2 was abolished from 6 April 2024, although voluntary Class 2 (£3.65 a week in 2026/27) can still be paid when profits are below the £7,105 Small Profits Threshold, to protect State Pension entitlement.

Anyone with a long employment history may run into contracting out. Before April 2016 you could be contracted out of the additional State Pension, first SERPS and later S2P, in exchange for a lower NI rate, an arrangement that ended when the flat-rate State Pension arrived. Where that applies, your State Pension may carry a Contracted-Out Deduction, but you should also hold a defined benefit or defined contribution scheme that replaced the additional pension. The forecast at gov.uk/check-state-pension shows your exact entitlement.