SA29. Your social security insurance, benefits and healthcare rights in the European Economic Area
Insurance and contributions
2. Working in another EEA country for a UK employer
If you are taken on by a UK employer when you are abroad, you will not have to pay UK NI contributions. You will be insured under the social security scheme of the country you work in.
Your UK employer may send you to work in another EEA country. If you are not expected to be there for more than 12 months, you will usually carry on paying UK NI contributions. But you may be sent to take the place of someone else who works for the same employer and who has come to the end of their time working there. In this case, you cannot carry on paying UK contributions. But see also Employed and working in two or more EEA countries and Self-employed in one EEA country and employed in another.
Similarly, if you are taken on by an employer or by an agency in the UK so that you can go straightaway to work for them in another EEA country, you can only carry on paying UK NI contributions if the employer or the agency normally carries out significant business activities in the UK.
For you to continue paying UK NI contributions, your UK employer must apply for form E101 in your name. If it can be issued, this form tells the social security authority in the other EEA country that you will carry on being insured under the UK scheme.
To do so, your UK employer must get an application form from HM Revenue and Customs. Alternatively the form can be downloaded from www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/osc.htm.It should be completed and returned to the address shown on the form. As well as this, new employers, and employers who have not been in touch with HM Revenue and Customs before, must complete and return a form giving the company's details. You can also get this form by writing to the HM Revenue and Customs or download it from www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/osc.htm.
If your employer hires you out to another client, you will not have to pay UK NI contributions. In this case, you will be insured under the social security scheme of the country you are working in. You can find out more by writing to HM Revenue and Customs.
If all the rules are met, you and your employer will have to pay Class 1 NI contributions as if you were still in the UK. You will not have to pay into the scheme of the other EEA country. But see also Employed and working in two or more EEA countries, Self-employed in one EEA country and employed in another, International transport workers and Special arrangements.
If your job in another EEA country lasts longer than 12 months, although you did not expect it to, you can carry on being insured under the UK scheme for not more than another 12 months. But this is only if the insurance authorities of the EEA country you are working in agree to this extra time.
Make sure your UK employer asks for this extra time. They must ask before the end of the first 12 months you are working in the other EEA country. They need to apply on form E102. They can get a copy of the form from HM Revenue and Customs.