Have I paid enough National Insurance?

This isn't necessarily later.

There isn't necessarily a meantime.

One stops work when enough QYs are accumulated, the other stops work when they have *both* reached SPA. If they're lucky, the first to stop will reach SPA before the second, otherwise the second just works a little beyond SPA.

That's easy to say after the event!

What you wrote was open to be interpreted otherwise than as you intended. The "relevant limit" is £5k (qualified as "per employment"), but the "relevant (low) limit" is £5k (unqualified).

It may be that you had intended to write "you can't stop paying NI if your earnings per employment are over the relevant (low) limit", but you didn't. You wrote "..if you're earning over..", for which the obvious interpretation is "..if your total earnings are over.."

Yes, well, it's just extreme rounding. Anything above a half is basically one, and anything below is basically zero. Hence anything below/above 2 is basically 1 or infinite.

The suggestion was to buy qualifying years by means of Class 2 contributions in preference to Class 3. If you were already employed, you'd be paying Class 1, so would have no need no pay Class 3 (unless your employment earnings are below the relevant threshold).

You can be self-employed *in addition* to being employed, by taking up a small money-making side line, little more than a hobby. I gather that although your SE income might be below the level at which may ask to be excepted from Class 2, you are perfectly at liberty not to ask to be excepted, even if your SE income is very far below the exception limit, or if your self-employment is making a loss.

But wouldn't it be far simpler to contact the NI Office and establish what amount you need to pay to add the qualifying years?

I wasn't aware (or had forgotten) there was an option to buy qualifying years by lump sum. If there is, it certainly sounds simple, but it will presumably be more expensive than just paying C3 or C2 as you go along.

If the number of QYs you need in order to be on target for a full (or fuller, or even any, as the case may be) basic state pension is less than the number of actual years to go before you reach state pension age, then isn't the easiest option just to pay C2 or C3 on the usual monthly basis? The only non-simple bit is to engineer a plausible low-key self-employment to take advantage of the C2 payments being cheaper than C3.

It's only if you needed to make up lost ground and there weren't enough years to do it in, that buying missing years would be worth considering, I would have thought.

I agree that it certainly makes sense, if yu have the years available and the opportunity to create additional income, either at self employed or employment, then this will achieve the qualifying years.

If you are suggesting having employment AND self employment during the same year, this will only generate one year credit, not two, as both activities would be recorded in the same place.

Altenatively, if you dont have the years available, contact NI office, get a statement and check out the costs of paying for additional years.

Who said NI was easy!

Of course. I am suggesting that in the absence of employment, and if time is on your side, then C3 should be the normal option, but that it could be made cheaper by "creating" a self-employment in order to be eligible to pay C2 instead.

Interesting idea: Please make voluntary contributions. DON'T DO IT!!!!

Contacting the NI Office is never simple!

The NICO had forgotten as well!