National Insurance

• Payments made towards certain benefits such as the state retirement pension, employment and support allowance(contribution-based) and contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance.
• Paid at a flat rate of 11% on earnings over £110 per week up to £844 per week in 2010/11.
• You will also pay 1% of earnings above £844 per week in 2010/11.
• You will pay a lower amount as an employee if you are a member of your employer's contracted out pension scheme. 
• The payments are different if you are self-employed. 
• It is possible to overpay  NI contributions.

You can find out more about national insurance on the Government website - look under the heading 'Taxes' and then 'Types of Tax'. To check if you are paying the right amount of income tax and national insurance use the online calculator on the TUC Worksmart website. You can also find out more about the position if you are self employed on the Government website.

If you think you might have overpaid NI contributions look at the related Government link to see about a refund.