Will India-UK Pact Aid Cross-Border, Mobile Workers?

Both India, UK must offer more clarity on DCC rules to ensure workers fully know the rights

- Sonu Iyer & Puneet Gupta

On 6 May, India and the UK signed a landmark free trade agreement to boost economic ties. They also agreed to negotiate a reciprocal social security pact—the Double Contributions Convention—to ease cross-border mobility for businesses and employees moving between the two countries.

Double Contributions Convention: The DCC aims to ease employee movement between India and the UK by addressing social security contribution issues. Currently, Indian nationals in the UK must subscribe to the National Insurance Contributions (NIC) after a 52-week exemption. However, those who stay for less than 10 years do not receive any benefits. The DCC proposes allowing employees on assignments of up to three years to contribute to their home country's system to help maintain continuous coverage, and avoid fragmented records.