EU social security shake-up: what changes for employers?

The European Parliament has approved a proposed overhaul of the EU’s social security coordination rules, which will cement a new requirement to have an A1 certificate in place for almost every cross-border working arrangement. Employers with employees who work across the EU should start reviewing how they handle short trips now, before the practical interpretation of the rules that many currently rely on becomes a greater compliance risk.

The European Parliament Briefing published last week follows its approval on 7 July 2026 of the Provisional Agreement concerning coordination of EU social security contribution rules reached on 23 April. They confirm the decade-long project to “modernise” the EU’s social security coordination rules is finally nearing the finish line. Em ployers with employees who work across EU borders need to prepare for a different compliance landscape. Especially for short business trips which will likely require an A1 certificate moving forward.

Coordination not harmonisation

The EU does not seek a harmonised social security system. Existing rules coordinate rather than harmonise the position and the Provisional Agreement leaves this largely unchanged. Divergent processes in each member state for obtaining an A1 certificate remain one challenge facing global mobility practitioners as each country keeps its own system.

One aspect of the changes made to previous proposals by the Provisional Agreement of 23 April is a shake-up of the A1 certification process.

What is an A1 certificate and why is it important?

The A1 certificate system is the EU’s framework for social security coordination. As social security contributions are generally payable in the country in which an employee is physically working, the A1 certificate system overrides this default position and ensures employees are not subject to double social security contributions at “home” as well as overseas and avoids unnecessary registration and payrolling burdens on employers for employees undertaking work in overseas countries.

Certificates are generally issued by a “home” country in respect of an employee and confirm that they remain covered by that country’s social security system. Getting it wrong can have significant consequences, including:

exposure to “host” country social security contributions which may result in both employer and employee needing to register and pay contributions;
accrual of marginal social security benefits in one or more jurisdictions, and the loss of benefits in the “home” country;
payroll and compliance issues as the employer may need to register for payroll or social security purposes in the host country, make corrective filings, and adjust payroll;
immigration and labour inspections, as in many EU countries, labour inspectorates routinely ask to see an A1 certificate during workplace inspections. The absence of an A1 certificate may trigger closer scrutiny, delays, or administrative sanctions, even if the position can be resolved; and
in a worst-case scenario, gaps in coverage for benefits such as sickness and unemployment benefits, as well as access to healthcare. The interplay between social security and these benefits or services is complex and depends on local law.

When is an A1 certificate required?

Although global mobility within a workforce has significantly increased since the Covid-19 pandemic, it is not a total revelation. With that and the well-known risks in mind, you’d be forgiven for assuming that by now there would be a clear answer to that formative question, “when is an A1 certificate required?”. Regretfully, not.

The market has filled this vacuum, applying some practical rules of thumb, for example:

“Any overseas business travel that is shorter than 30 days probably doesn’t need an A1”.
“30 days to three months working overseas might need an A1”.
“Working overseas for three months or more will probably need an A1”.

None of that is written into the legislation. The EU’s proposals are set to sweep these informal interpretations away.

What’s changing?

The Provisional Agreement proposes to make A1 certificates mandatory in almost all cases. There are only two exemptions for:

“business trips” - defined as, “a temporary activity as an employed or self-employed person, which is limited in time and which is related to the business interests of the employer or, in the case of a self-employed person, the person concerned, excluding the provision of services or the delivery of goods, but including attending business meetings, cultural and scientific events, conferences and seminars, such as those related to academic research, or receiving training”; or

other activities lasting no more than three consecutive days within any 30-day window. This exemption will not be available to construction workers.

Where an employee will provide services or the delivery of goods overseas, the Provisional Agreement removes the uncertainty, and with it, the scope for a practical interpretation. If the activities will last for more than three consecutive days within any 30-day period, an A1 certificate will strictly be required.

This is a significant change, and one that we expect will materially increase the number of overseas working arrangements that would strictly require an A1 certificate.

Challenges ahead

Although uncertainty in social security coordination is nothing new, a defined minimum is. As we wrote here, global mobility specialists have long advocated for greater harmonisation of tax and social security regimes. After all, uncertainty can lead to non-compliance. However, the real surprise is just how low the EU’s de minimis has been set – three days in a 30-day window.

Many employers are used to sending employees on short-term working arrangements overseas without an A1 certificate, having reasonably concluded that it is not required based on those practical rules of thumb we touched on above. For those employers, the lack of a defined de minimis provided respite. Those employers will need to reevaluate their approach.

This is accentuated by the fact the process of obtaining an A1 certificate differs. In some jurisdictions it can take more than six months for a certificate to be issued, in others, days.

Although the Briefing suggests the EU’s new Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information system should speed up the approvals processes, it remains to be seen if it will grease the wheels enough to counteract the inevitable surge in A1 certificates being requested. If it does not, employers will increasingly find themselves needing an employee to be overseas sooner than an A1 certificate can be obtained.

How will this apply to employees whose cross-border work includes time in the UK?

Employees whose duties are in the UK are not directly caught by these reforms. Their social security position is governed by the post-Brexit UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), not the EU regulations being amended in Brussels.

Whether the UK will follow suit remains to be seen. The TCA is reviewed periodically, and the next step of changes could include social security coordination. However, so far there is no sign yet that the UK intends to mirror the EU’s wider A1 overhaul, whether formally or informally, and the two regimes remain legally distinct.

What will, and what should, employers do now?

The EU’s proposals will undoubtedly increase the risk profile related to the social security position of any proposed overseas work arrangement.

In practice, we think that the reality is that some employers will keep taking a commercial, risk-based approach to short trips rather than seeking an A1 certification every time it may strictly be required, much as they do today. However, those arrangements will be riskier than they used to be, and that risk must be accepted before proceeding. Particularly as we know that regulatory scrutiny (supported by increased data gathering by EU member states) is on the rise.

Employers should begin considering how they may approach these challenges, particularly when cross-border work is led by business needs more than employee demand.

Employers with a lower appetite for risk should adopt a more proactive stance to planning to ensure compliance doesn’t impact business continuity.

As we discussed here, and at our Managing an International Workforce Conference 2026, employers operating across jurisdictions may need to look beyond compliance and take a wider strategic stance. Where the compliant movement of staff in response to business needs cannot be achieved, that may lead to bigger questions such as whether to establish a more formal, or bigger presence in key locations.

The direction of travel is clear even before the paperwork is signed off in Brussels. Organisations with employees that work across EU borders should begin to prepare by:

putting the changes on senior stakeholders’ agendas;
beginning to review business travel, secondment, and posting policies, particularly for short trips currently handled informally;
assigning responsibility for developing institutional knowledge of the A1 certificate processes in relevant locations;
building extra lead time into A1 applications; and
watching out for the European Council’s formal adoption, expected in September 2026.