Because there is a considerable degree of worker migration between Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, the individual social security systems of these jurisdictions attempt to coordinate policies that affect such workers.  Article 11.3 is intended to coordinate the coverage of workers who have completed periods of coverage under more than one of the U.K. systems.  It provides that where a worker has periods of coverage totaling less than one year under one of the U.K. systems, those periods will be added to periods of coverage the worker has completed under another U.K. system for the purpose of determining his or her right to benefits, including U.K. and U.S. totalization benefits.  Without this provision, some workers who have completed periods of coverage under more than one of the U.K. systems could lose credit for part or all of that coverage. 

Under Article 8.1 of the original Agreement, the United States is not required to consider U.K. periods of coverage for purposes of determining benefit eligibility unless the worker has earned at least 6 quarters of U.S. coverage.  This provision is intended to avoid the administrative burden of processing benefit claims that would result in very small benefit amounts.  The Supplementary Agreement amends Article 11.3 of the Agreement to establish a similar minimum coverage requirement for U.K. old-age or retirement benefits.  Under this provision, a worker is required to have at least one year of coverage under the U.K. system before the United Kingdom will take U.S. coverage into account in determining U.K. benefit eligibility.   However, as noted above in the annotation for Article 11.2, under the United Kingdom’s Welfare Reform Act of 2007, persons claiming basic state pension benefits April 6, 2010 and after can qualify for a reduced basic state pension with one year or more of U.K. coverage.   Thus, the provisions of Articles 10.1 and 11.2 operate to eliminate any possibility of combining U.S. and U.K. coverage for the purpose of  computing or paying U.K.pro rata benefits.  (Article 14.15, as amended, provides for a similar requirement with respect to U.K. disability benefits.)