EU provisions

The social security agreement between all EU member states takes the form of EC Regulations which apply across all Member States and also extend by agreement to cover Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Switzerland (referred to in this guidance note as EEA countries).

The UK does not apply these 2004 and 2009 provisions to third country nationals and their contribution position needs to be considered under 1408/71/EEC . The rulesare broadly similar.

Although the UK has voted to leave the EU, these provisions will remain in place during the course of the UK’s exit negotiations. Those exit negotiations could result in the UK continuing to be covered by the rulesdescribed in this guidance note, in a similar way to the EEA countries. If not, it is likely that transitional provisions will be agreed to cover workers holding A1 certificates whose secondment spans the UK’s actual exit date.

If the negotiations do result in the above EU provisions ceasing to apply to the UK, the NIC position of workers seconded to and from EU Member States and EEA countries will depend on whether or not there is a social security agreement in place between the countries in question. See the Social security agreements and Moving to and from non-agreement countries guidance notes for more details.

Many employees spend relatively short periods of time working outside their home EU country. Where the home country employment contract remains in place, the EU social security rulesenvisage the employee remaining in the home country social security scheme. The logic behind this is quite simple; why fragment an individual’s contribution history and benefit entitlements for such a short period? A short assignment for EU social security purposes is one which is not expected to exceed 24 months.