Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people who have paid voluntary National Insurance contributions for one or more years are waiting to have those contributions credited to their National Insurance record; what the average waiting time is between paying voluntary National Insurance contributions and having them credited to a National Insurance record; and when he expects individuals to be able to view such contributions online.

Information on how many people have paid voluntary National Insurance contributions for one or more years and are waiting to have those contributions credited to their National Insurance record is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The average waiting time between a customer paying National Insurance contributions and having them credited to a National Insurance record is currently 12 working days, Class 3 allocations are currently being prioritised due to the Class 3 payment extension announcement.

Payments should show on customer records within 8 weeks of when a customer calls the NI helpline. If a customer makes a payment of voluntary National Insurance Contributions, the payment will automatically allocate into their National Insurance record when the money is cleared by HMRC’s banking system. It normally takes a day to then be visible for the customer to view. However, this could take up to 8 week if there is any kind of discrepancy that causes a rejection that requires further investigation.