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UK-India Double Contributions Convention (DCC) explainer

Published 23 July 2025

Summary 

Alongside the UK-India Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA), the UK and India have agreed to negotiate a reciprocal Double Contributions Convention (DCC).

The DCC will support business and trade by ensuring that employees moving between the UK and India, and their employers, will only be liable to pay social security contributions in one country at a time. The DCC will also ensure that employees temporarily working in the other country will continue paying social security contributions in their home country, preventing the fragmentation of their social security record.

The commitment to negotiate a DCC is set out in a side letter to the CETA.

What is a Double Contributions Convention?

A DCC is a type of Social Security Agreement (SSA) which coordinates payment of social security contributions. A DCC does not cover access to social security benefits like the State Pension, and does not change any rules on access to benefits.

DCCs include a provision which allows employees (known as ‘detached workers’) to continue paying solely into their home social security scheme when they are temporarily working abroad for an agreed maximum period.

These types of arrangement are not new to either the UK or India and are used increasingly all over the world^{[footnote 1]}, informed by the International Labour Organization (ILO) model agreement^{[footnote 2]}. The UK already has similar agreements in place covering:

• Chile
• Japan
• South Korea
• the 27 EU member states
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein
• Norway
• Switzerland
• Barbados
• Canada
• Israel
• Jamaica
• Mauritius
• Philippines
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• North Macedonia
• Serbia
• Montenegro
• Kosovo
• Turkey
• USA

India has 19 similar agreements in place with:

• Argentina
• Belgium
• Germany
• Switzerland
• France
• Norway
• Canada
• Australia
• Japan
• Austria
• Luxembourg
• Denmark
• South Korea
• Netherlands
• Hungary
• Czechia
• Finland
• Sweden
• Portugal

It also has a ‘contributions-only’ arrangement with Singapore.

Where the UK does not have a DCC or SSA in place with a country, National Insurance rules exempt employees sent by their employer to work temporarily in the UK from paying National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for the first 52 weeks of their stay. Employers also benefit from this 52-week exemption period.

This helps reduce administrative burdens for inbound workers and helps them maintain a full contribution record at home if they can maintain their payments there. The UK only extends the 52-week exemptions through SSAs and DCCs because these ensure reciprocity, meaning UK workers will also benefit from an extended exemption period in the other country.

What have we agreed?

The UK and India have agreed to negotiate a DCC so that it comes into force alongside the CETA.

Once the DCC is in force, the UK and India have agreed that there will be no ‘double contributions’, and the 52-week exemption period will be extended reciprocally to 36 months for detached workers. This means UK detached workers sent to India to work temporarily for up to 36 months will continue building entitlement to a UK State Pension as they continue to pay NICs during that period.

The same principle applies to Indian detached workers sent by India-based employers to work temporarily in the UK for up to 36 months. While working in the UK the amounts of contributions paid by Indian detached workers back into India’s social security scheme (the India Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme) will be similar to the amount they would have paid in UK NICs.

Under this agreement Indian detached workers will not build entitlement to the UK State Pension or other contributory benefits. If a detached worker’s family member takes up employment in the UK they must pay UK NICs.

When would the DCC apply?

Social security contributions are normally paid in the country where the work is carried out. This means that workers moving between the UK and India to take up employment will pay social security contributions in the country where they work. If someone living in India decides to move to the UK and secures a job, then they will pay UK NICs in the same way as everyone else from the start of their work in the UK.

The NICs exemption only applies to individuals who are living in India and who are already working for an India-based employer. If their employer decides to send them to the UK for up to a maximum of 36 months temporarily, they will be considered detached workers and would not pay any contributions in the UK. They would instead pay a similar amount in social security contributions back into India’s social security scheme.

The NICs exemption would not apply if the individual sent by their employer to work in the UK was intending to stay for more than 36 months. In that case, they would not be considered ‘detached workers’, and so would pay UK NICs like everyone else from the start of their work in the UK.

What is the impact of the DCC?

The approach taken by successive governments has been to support the principle of preventing double payments of social security contributions and prevent, so far as possible, the fragmentation of workers’ social security records.

When agreeing to negotiate a DCC with India, the government took account of the benefits of the wider trade deal, which could add £4.8 billion to UK GDP every year and boost UK wages by £2.2 billion every year in the long run. The indicative results of DBT analysis also suggest the trade deal could increase public sector receipts by £1.8 billion annually in the long run^{[footnote 3]}.

The net impact on the Exchequer and the British economy of this deal is a significantly positive one. The Office for Budget Responsibility will certify the impact of the CETA, including the DCC, in the usual way at a fiscal event, once the deal is finalised and ratified. The cost of the DCC agreement is likely to be a fraction of the overall deal’s economic benefit.

Will the DCC undercut British workers and increase migration from India?

The DCC will not make it cheaper to hire Indian workers over British workers and nothing in the agreement will change our immigration regime or affect the UK’s right or ability to control our borders. The DCC is not expected to have a long-term impact on net migration.   

Indian detached workers will continue to pay back into India’s social security scheme on a similar basis whilst they are not paying NICs, and they will need to meet several requirements before getting a visa. This can include sponsorship from a business in the UK or a contract to supply a service with a UK-based company.

Specific salary thresholds will also need to be satisfied, for example, for the Senior or Specialist Worker Visa, a worker must be paid at least £48,500 or the ‘going rate’ for that job – whichever is higher. These salary requirements ensure the worker’s pay is commensurate with that of British workers and limits the degree to which their pay could undercut the British work force.

Workers and employers would also have to cover all of the costs of moving to the UK. For example, Indian workers coming to the UK as a senior or specialist would have to pay a visa application fee of £769, and an Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) of £1,035 for any stay exceeding six months and up to 12 months, and a further £1,035 for each additional year.

If the worker’s stay exceeds 6 months, employers would also need to pay the Immigration Skills Charge of £1,000 for the first year, and a further £500 for each additional six-month period. Employers must also pay £525 to issue a Certificate of Sponsorship.

These are all measures designed to regulate the entry of foreign workers. If Indian workers and their employers cannot meet these requirements they will not be given a visa, and they cannot benefit from the DCC.

1. International social security agreements in Asia-Pacific International Social Security Association (ISSA) (figure 2). ↩

2. Recommendation R167 - Maintenance of Social Security Rights Recommendation, 1983 (No. 167) ↩

3. Technical note of the potential additional fiscal revenue as a result of a UK-India Free Trade Agreement ↩