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Carer's Allowance Supplement (Qualifying Persons) and Young Carer Grant Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2020: scrutiny report

The Scottish Commission on Social Security's scrutiny report on the draft Carer's Allowance Supplement (Qualifying Persons) and Young Carer Grant Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2020 with recommendations for the Scottish Government.

2. The coordination rules and withdrawal from the EU

The key feature of the coordination rules for the purposes of this report is that in certain circumstances they confer eligibility for social security benefits paid by one state upon individuals who reside – temporarily or permanently – in another state. They also determine when a state is obliged to grant resident non-nationals access to social security benefits it provides. The coordination rules cover the European Economic Area (EEA), which consists of the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as Switzerland and (for now) the United Kingdom.

Although the UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020, the coordination rules are now ‘retained law’ with which the social security systems must comply for the time being. The draft Regulations would be necessary for this reason alone. However, the Scottish Government has advised the Commission that it expects that EEA nationals with settled status in the UK and certain EEA-resident UK nationals will continue to benefit from the coordination rules for many years to come, even if the coordination rules are superseded in UK law so that they cease to benefit any new individuals.

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