The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (Social Security Co-ordination) (Compatibility) Regulations 2025
The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (Social Security Co-ordination) (Compatibility) Regulations 2025, effective June 4, 2025, ensure the compatibility of UK domestic law with retained EU law concerning social security coordination.
Specifically, it mandates compatibility between several UK insolvency and debt arrangement acts and relevant articles of EU Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009, preserving international agreements on cross-border social security and debt recovery.
Arguments For
Maintaining International Agreements: The regulations ensure the continued functionality of international agreements on social security coordination, preventing disruption to cross-border benefits and debt recovery.
Legal Certainty: By clarifying the compatibility between UK and assimilated EU law, the regulations provide legal certainty for individuals and businesses involved in cross-border transactions.
Economic Stability: Maintaining social security cooperation across borders supports economic stability by providing a framework for managing debt and insolvency situations across jurisdictions.
Protection of Citizens' Rights: The Regulations ensure the continued protection and enforcement of citizens' rights to social security benefits, regardless of place of residence or movement between countries.
Arguments Against
Regulatory Burden: Implementing and monitoring compatibility between different legal frameworks could create a regulatory burden for relevant authorities.
Unforeseen Consequences: The complexities of coordinating disparate legal systems may lead to unforeseen unintended consequences which might require further interventions.
Alternative Approaches: Other methods such as bilateral agreements may have addressed the issue of maintaining coherence, potentially with more flexibility.
Lack of Detailed Impact Assessment: The absence of a full impact assessment might raise concerns about the potential consequences and cost effectiveness of the chosen approach.
- Citation and commencement These Regulations may be cited as the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (Social Security Co-ordination) (Compatibility) Regulations 2025 and come into force on 4th June 2025.
These regulations are officially titled the "Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (Social Security Co-ordination) (Compatibility) Regulations 2025" and will take effect on June 4, 2025.
- Compatibility between specified domestic and assimilated law (1) Section 7(2) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 applies (and section 5(A2) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 does not apply) to the relationship between provisions made by or under the domestic enactments specified in paragraph (2) and the provisions of assimilated direct legislation specified in paragraph (3).
Section 7(2) of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 establishes compatability rules between specified UK laws (paragraph 2) and corresponding existing EU rules (paragraph 3).
This overrides section 5(A2) of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 is for this specific case.
(2) The domestic enactments mentioned in paragraph (1) are— (a) the Insolvency Act 1986, (b) section 4 of the Social Security Contributions (Transfer of Functions, etc.) Act 1999, (c) the Insolvency Act 2000, (d) the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002, (e) the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016, (f) the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, and (g) the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 2002.
This paragraph lists several UK laws concerning insolvency and debt management in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
These are the specific domestic laws brought into consideration with the EU legislation.
(3) The provisions of assimilated direct legislation mentioned in paragraph (1) (so far as they are saved by regulation 7 of the Social Security Co-ordination (Revocation of Retained Direct EU Legislation and Related Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020) are— (a) Article 84 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems, and (b) Chapter 3 of Title 4 to Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems.
This section specifies the relevant articles of EU Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 that relate to the coordination of social security systems within the EU. These are the assimilated EU laws which must be read compatibly with the UK laws mentioned previously.
The reference to regulation 7 of the Social Security Co-ordination (Revocation of Retained Direct EU Legislation and Related Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 indicates that some parts of the originally retained EU regulations remain, provided that they were saved by previous legislation.
Explanatory Note (This note is not part of the Regulations) These Regulations require that specified domestic legislation be read compatibly with specified assimilated direct legislation, relating to the co-ordination of social security between the UK and other countries. Regulation 2 requires that provisions made by or under specified domestic legislation be read compatibly with specified assimilated direct legislation. This is necessary to give effect to international agreements in the field of social security, coordinating debt recovery, insolvency and recognition and enforcement of judgments, between the UK and other countries. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument because no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.
The explanatory note summarizes the regulations' purpose: to ensure compatibility between UK and EU social security laws to maintain international cooperation arrangements in areas like debt recovery and insolvency, between the UK and other countries.
An impact assessment was not deemed necessary due to the lack of a significant foreseeable effect on the public or private sector.