Updated EU rules on social security coordination enter into force

The regulation revising the EU rules on the coordination of national social security systems entered into force today. 

The revision marks an important step towards fairer labour mobility and stronger protection of people’s social security rights when they live, work, retire or look for a job in another EU country.

This Regulation followed the provisional agreement reached by the co-legislators earlier this year and its formal adoption by the European Parliament on 7 July 2026 and the Council of the EU on 28 September 2026. 

The revised rules make social security coordination clearer, fairer and easier to enforce. They will help people moving across borders exercise the social security rights they are entitled to, while reducing administrative burdens and legal uncertainty for businesses operating across borders.

To enable EU countries to adapt their national procedures, most of the updated rules will only apply after 2 years, as of 1 November 2028.

The revision focuses on five key areas

• Improved protection of social security rights for people working or living abroad, with the establishment of a coherent regime for the coordination of long-term care benefits, and new rules regarding family benefits
• Fairer labour mobility with a new definition of fraud in social security coordination. Workers will have to be affiliated to social security in their home country for at least three months before being posted to another EU country. After 24 months of posting, there must be a break of at least two months before another posting. Postings must be notified before they happen, apart from business trips. This notification is also not needed for short-term postings of a maximum of three days, in all sectors except the construction sector.
• New arrangements for the coordination of unemployment benefits in cross-border cases, as well as the extension of the period in which a person can move to another country to seek work while retaining the entitlement to unemployment benefits
• Clearer rules defining which social security laws are applicable, in particular for the posting of workers and for work performed in two or more EU countries
• Strengthened administrative cooperation between national authorities, through improved information exchanges on the social security status of people working in a different country, the introduction of clearer procedures and timelines in case of doubt about the validity of documents, and new tools to prevent fraud, abuse and errors

More on EU social security coordination

Next steps

Most of the revised rules, notably on applicable legislation and prior notification and on the coordination of long-term care benefits, family benefits and unemployment benefits, will apply in 2 years, i.e. on 1 November 2028.

Background

Each EU country is free to determine the features of its own social security system, including which benefits are provided, the conditions for eligibility, how these benefits are calculated and what contributions should be paid. At the same time, about 16 million European citizens live or work in another EU countries. The EU provides rules to coordinate the national social security systems and ensure social security protection when a person moves within EU countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

These rules facilitate free movement by ensuring continuity of protection for workers, jobseekers, students and others, and prevent a person from being left without coverage or having to pay contributions in more than one EU country at a time.

Related links

Press release

EU social security coordination

Commission welcomes important step to modernise EU social security coordination rules