The UK-India social-security agreement entered into force on July 15, 2026, following India's June 17 announcement of its commencement alongside the trade agreement. Its practical effect concerns where an employee and employer pay social-security contributions during a temporary overseas assignment.
For a qualifying posting, the employee remains under the home country's system when an employer normally active there sends them to the other country for an assignment expected to last no more than 60 months. Indian contributions therefore continue for an eligible India-to-UK posting; the arrangement removes duplicate coverage rather than stopping contributions altogether.
The five-year limit replaced the 36 months in the agreement signed on February 10. HMRC identifies the amending instrument as SI 2026/794, with a corresponding Northern Ireland amendment. The convention concerns contributions and excludes self-employment: it is not a general income-tax exemption for people working abroad.
Eligibility also depends on the employee's previous coverage. HMRC's detached-worker guidance requires home-country employee and employer contributions to have been paid, or treated as paid, for at least 30 days before departure or for the preceding calendar month. This ties the exception to an existing contribution relationship, rather than merely the destination of the job.
Employees already working in the other country on July 15 are a separate case. HMRC's transitional guidance, updated on October 7, says it and India's EPFO agreed that Article 12 can preserve the pre-agreement position until the employee reaches 52 weeks of temporary work abroad. That is a limited bridge for existing assignments, not a fresh five-year period for everyone already overseas.
