Information for class 3 non-employed people

The reason you make social security contributions payments is to give yourself protection under the social insurance scheme.

Generally speaking, the social insurance scheme applies to all people in Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Jethou who are over school leaving age.

There are three classes of person under the scheme - class 3 covers non-employed people. 2024 rates for all classes are avilable in the downloads section of this page.

Non-employed people (under pension age)

• With some exceptions a non-employed person is someone who is neither employed nor self-employed but instead is living off savings or investments.
• In addition there are people who, although employed or self-employed are treated as non-employed. This includes people who are:
  • employed, but not receiving any wages or salary e.g. doing charitable or social work.
  • employed, but receiving earnings below the lower earnings limit.
  • normally employed, but temporarily out of work or between jobs.
  • self-employed, working part time and earning less than the annual lower earnings limit.

  People over pension age

  • Social Security operates a specialist health and long-term care scheme which covers residents of Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Jethou.
  • If you are over pension age you do not have to pay social insurance contributions but you do have to pay health insurance and long-term care contributions towards this scheme. These contributions are payable by people over pension age and are based on assessable income.
  • People who do not make an application to pay on the basis of their actual income will be charged at the maximum weekly contribution rate.
  • If you have recently reached pension age, please download then complete and return the application to pay income related contributions form in the downloads section of this page.
  • Non-employed people who expect their income to be less than the annual upper income limit can apply to have their rate of contribution based on their income rather than paying the maximum rate.
  • The class 3 non-employed allowance is subtracted from annual income with liability being calculated on the balance. People whose income, before the deduction of the allowance falls below the lower income limit will continue to be exempt from paying contributions.

  Other rates (class 3)

  • Special rate contributions - payable by people who are temporarily out of work, between jobs and do not wish to claim unemployment benefit or are not entitled to an unemployment credit.
  • Voluntarycontributions - payable by non-employed people who have income below the lower income limit but wish to maintain their record for pension purposes.
  • Overseas voluntary contributions - payable by people who are no longer living in Guernsey or Alderney but wish to maintain their record for pension purposes (please contact Social Security for details of the qualifying conditions).

  More information about how to make a Social Security contributions payment is provided in the Useful Pages section.