This document is described as an “Agreement” with the understanding that it entered into force for the United Kingdom as a formal treaty subject to parliamentary ratification and for the United States as an executive agreement under authority of section 233 of the Social Security Act (Act). Upon entry into force, the Agreement had, and continues to have, the effect of law in both countries and is binding on both countries.

A Supplementary Agreement amended the U.S.-U.K. Agreement on social security (TIAS 11086) that was signed on February 13, 1984, and that entered into force on January 1, 1985. The Supplementary Agreement was signed June 6, 1996, and entered into force September 1, 1997. Its provisions are not separate or distinct. Rather, they are an integral part of the Agreement and the annotations for the Agreement and Administrative Agreement.

The Agreement, like other U.S. agreements concluded pursuant to section 233 of the Social Security Act (Act) has two main purposes. First, it eliminates dual social security coverage, the situation that occurs when a person from one country works in the other country and is required to pay social security taxes to both the United States and the United Kingdom on the same earnings. The Agreement includes rules that assign a worker’s coverage to only one country.

Second, the Agreement helps prevent gaps in benefit protection for workers who have divided their careers between the United States and the United Kingdom. Such workers may fail to qualify for Social Security benefits from one or both countries because they have not worked long enough to meet minimum eligibility requirements. Under the Agreement, these workers may qualify for partial U.S. or U.K. benefits based on “totalized” (i.e., combined) credits from both countries.

The Supplementary Agreement was necessary, in part, to take account of changes in U.S. and U.K. law that occurred after the original Agreement was implemented. The primary purpose of the Supplementary Agreement, however, was to remove certain restrictions in the original Agreement on the payment of U.K. disability benefits to residents of the United States.

The Supplementary Agreement made several substantive changes in the text of the original Agreement. The Supplementary Agreement also included a guarantee against reductions in benefits for persons already entitled when the Supplementary Agreement entered into force, and specified the Supplementary Agreement’s effective date.

Money amounts cited in these annotations are provided in U.S. dollar equivalents applicable at the time of the original annotation.