Today the FSIO (Federal Social Insurance Office) announced that the new social security agreement between Switzerland and the United Kingdom will be applied provisionally from 1.11.2021.
The IV (Disability Insurance) Circular letter no. 408 – also published today – makes it clear: the social security agreement of 1968, which applied to new cases between 1.1.2021 and 31.10.2021, will be replaced. There is no grandfather clause.
However, for cases that were existing before 1.1.2021, reference is still made to Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004.
It is also important to distinguish the territorial scope of application. The new Agreement applies to the United Kingdom and Gibraltar. It cannot be applied to the other Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies of the United Kingdom.
For the various islands such as Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Jethou, the Social Security Agreement of 1968 should be consulted and taken into account.
Companies with existing situations and future cases are challenged. While the social security rules are not simple but relatively clear, in the area of benefits it will have to be clarified in more detail whether and how a disability pension can be claimed. The aforementioned Circular letter clearly illustrates the complexity in the area of disability insurance.
For further details, I refer to the explanations in my blog about a month ago.
