49.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), no person shall be entitled to pay a Class 3 contribution—
(a)in respect of any year if he would, but for the payment of such a contribution, be entitled to be credited with a contribution;
(b)in respect of any year in which the aggregate of his earnings factors derived from earnings in respect of which primary Class 1 contributions have been paid, credited earnings, or Class 2 or Class 3 contributions paid or credited is less than 25 times the lower earnings limit and either the period has passed within which any Class 3 contributions may be treated as paid for that year under regulation 4 of the Social Security (Crediting and Treatment of Contributions, and National Insurance Numbers) Regulations 2001(1) or he has sooner, in accordance with regulation 56, applied for the return of any Class 3 contributions paid in respect of that year;
(c)in respect of any year if the aggregate of his earnings factors derived from earnings in respect of which primary Class 1 contributions have been paid, credited earnings, or Class 2 or Class 3 contributions paid or credited is more than 25 times the lower earnings limit but less than the qualifying earnings factor and either—
(i)the period referred to in sub-paragraph (b) has passed, or
(ii)he has sooner applied under regulation 56 for the return of any Class 3 contributions paid in respect of that year;
(d)in respect of any year if it causes the aggregate of his earnings factors derived from earnings in respect of which primary Class 1 contributions have been paid, credited earnings, or Class 2 or Class 3 contributions paid or credited to exceed the qualifying earnings factor by an amount which is half or more than half that year’s lower earnings limit;
(e)in respect of the year in which he attains pensionable age(2) or in respect of any subsequent year;
(f)in respect of the year in which he attains 17 or 18 years of age if in an earlier year he has satisfied the first contribution condition for retirement pension or widow’s pension or widowed mother’s allowance.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1)(a), (b) or (c), a person shall be entitled to pay a Class 3 contribution in respect of any year if it would enable him to satisfy—
(a)the first contribution condition for retirement pension or widow’s pension or widowed mother’s allowance and he has not satisfied that condition at the beginning of that year; or
(b)the contribution condition for widow’s payment and he has not satisfied that condition at the beginning of that year.
(3) In this regulation “credited” means credited for the purposes of retirement pension, widowed mother’s allowance and widow’s pension.
The definition of pensionable age contained in section 122(1) of the Act was substituted by paragraph 13(a) of Schedule 4 to the Pensions Act 1995.