Effects of UK-India Free Trade & Social Security Agreement on globally mobile employees

On 6th May, UK & India announced a Free Trade & Social Security Agreement. This has implications on trade between the 2 countries but it also has a huge impact on temporary Indian workers in the UK who previously needed to pay UK social security, due to no cross-border protection, and vice versa temporary UK employees in India.

This move now means that temporary cross-border workers between these 2 countries will remain eligible to contribute to their home country social security scheme, for a period of up to 3 years (exact details to be confirmed), under a certificate of coverage.  

Whilst the UK has social security agreements with EEA countries, even after Brexit and over 20 non-EU countries, such as US, Philippines, Japan, Canada, the inclusion of India as a reciprocal agreement country has been long awaited. Not only will this encourage cross-border secondments between the 2 countries, it also helps reduce costs for employees in either country as they will not need to pay additional host country social security as well as maintain their home country contributions.

In addition, the updated immigration measures coupled with the new generous Foreign Income & Gains regime for new people coming into the UK, for a period of 4 years, this should encourage further sharing of talent between UK & India.

If you wish to discuss this article in further detail, please get in touch with our Global Mobility Tax Services team here.