Voluntary Contributions not appearing in my online record

Hi In late March 2024 I paid 7 years voluntary NI contributions. They have not shown up on my record. I understand there is a delay but this seems extreme. Is this normal - when should I be concerned ? Your call line is difficult with waits over 30 mins and then getting cut off. Peter

Hi,
It’s currently taking about 22 weeks from an individual making their payment of voluntary National Insurance contributions to it being recorded on their Personal Tax Account so your payment should be recorded soon.  
If you’d like to make sure that we do have your payment then you are welcome to call our National Insurance Helpline on 0300 200 3500 (from the UK) or +44 191 203 7010 (from overseas).
Thank you.

Hello, I am in the same situation and have tried multiple times calling the Helpline to confirm that you have properly recorded the payments which have been made online as the record is not reflecting these. But have not been able to get through and continue to be cut off. I have also sent a letter with evidence of payments beginning of September requesting confirmation but still no response. Concerned and not sure what to do next. Thanks.

Hi
You can find out when you can expect to receive a reply form HMRC here:
Check when you can expect a reply from HMRC
Thank you

Hi HMRC, I topped up Class 2s for my wife and I on 12/08/24 so based on 22 weeks I guess I can expect to see the payments reflected on our pension statement in mid January? But please advise me if the 22 weeks estimate is still valid-will save HMRC and myself time as I will not ring your helpline if the estimate has lengthened. Best Regards, 

I am also concerned that after going thorugh the steps needed to mae payments for missing years that after 2 months i have heard nothing , not even a conformation that my 3500 GBP payment has been received , if theres a problem then its going to be very difficult to rectify it and i worry that i might louse all that money plust the stress of having to deal with it . Phoning from outside the UK is a pointless waste of time and money , even if you do get through and willing to continue to pay for being on hold the conection gets lost beore speaking to someone . Its disgraceful that an organisation can behave this way with total impunity . I know of no other organisation that would expect clients to pay large sums of money without even an acknowlegment .

Hi
We are currently dealing with a high volume of voluntary payments.
The timescales depend on the circumstances of your payment and the National Insurance class.
If you paid for an abroad period it can take up to 29 weeks to allocate the payment to your record, if it is a domestic Class 2 payment it can take up to 29 weeks and a domestic Class 3 payment can take up to 8 weeks (based on the automated system allocating the amounts).
The domestic Class 3 payments can also be allocated over the phone, if you’d like to call us on 0300 200 3500 to do so.
However, abroad payments and Class 2 payments take 29 weeks, due to the high volume of other payments in the queue needing to be allocated.
Thank you.

I paid my voluntary contributions on 16th Aug. When I look at my gov gateway NI record it still shows the years I paid for are 'not full' and the figure given to pay is different from the amount stated in my letter. I have spent hours on hold etc. chasing this up. 22 weeks is an extraordinary amount of time to process. Presumably so long as the payment was made before the deadline it will count but still the time frame is unacceptable. Clearly more staff are needed to deal with demand.

Hi, I paid voluntary class 2 top up on 4th June 2024. It has now been more than the 29 weeks advised to allocate the payment to my record. Phoning the helpline (from abroad) is not only very costly, but extremely frustrating with the dropped calls and long waits. Since it has now passed the 29 week mark, should I assume something has gone wrong and HMRC is unable to trace my payment to my account, or, is it taking more than 29 weeks to allocate class 2 international contributions? Thanks NH

Hi cbak123,
It may take up to 8 weeks after you have made your payment of voluntary National Insurance contributions for it to be shown on your personal tax account. If it is not recorded after the 8 weeks then you can contact our National Insurance team and they will arrange for your payment to be dealt with. Please have your payment details handy when you call.
National Insurance: general enquiries
Thank you.