Over the last 6 months, PwC’s Asset and Wealth Management EMEA Brexit team have been hosting a series of client webinar events focused on the "Beyond Brexit" phase. These webinars have been looking at some of the post Brexit open-issues which could affect AWM’s in 2021 and beyond. In this article, we have summarised some of the key issues that we explored in our most recent webinar on the topic of business travel, immigration and cross border working in 2021.
Fourth Webinar - 16 June - Business Travel in 2021
Please listen to the recording of the session.
In this session we focused on business travel after Brexit, in response to client concerns around borders reopening and managing the changes for business travellers.
We highlighted some of the more significant changes for employers since 1 January 2021, including immigration and the end of free movement, increased scrutiny with the enhanced Posted Worker Directive and new social security regulations as part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
The end of free movement
UK nationals are no longer able to travel to the EU for work without going through immigration formalities. With respect to short term business visits, UK nationals travelling to the EU will need to restrict their business activities to those permitted for visitors and where this is not possible, they will need to apply for a work permit and visa ahead of travel. EU countries have differing definitions of permitted activities and therefore the business needs to have a system in place to review exactly what activities travellers are planning to do in each location, to ensure that business travellers have the right permissions in place for their trips. With no EU-wide work permit available, this may mean that travellers wishing to work from the UK will need to secure multiple work permits for each territory they are planning to work in. Travellers from the EU into the UK will face similar limitations in respect of what they are permitted to do as business travellers.
EU Posted Worker Directive
The EU Posted Worker Directive (“PWD”) creates obligations for employers to ensure they are meeting minimum legal standards in relation to employees who are sent by their employer to provide services in another EU country. This could include individuals who are sent on formal assignments to an EU country as well as individuals who are undertaking remote working or business trips. Where the PWD applies, the employer will need to notify the local authorities and keep records relating to the employee and they also need to designate an individual who will be a point of contact. Often the notification needs to be submitted in advance of any work commencing.
The PWD has been implemented into domestic law by all EU and EEA member states and as a consequence of this, the member states have implemented the rules slightly differently in each case meaning the obligations and when they are triggered vary from country to country. Similarly, there are potentially significant penalties for non compliance in relation to employees - in some countries this can extend to €0.5m fines, prison sentences or outright bans for the company from operating there for up to five years. Hence it is important that employers know exactly what activities the individual intends to undertake in the country to enable them to determine whether they will be regarded as a posted worker and what the company’s obligations are.
Our PwC panel considered a number of relevant scenarios for the sector and it was evident that both the immigration and PWD obligations varied significantly from country to country depending on the nature of activities undertaken and the individual’s specific circumstances.
We ended the session by sharing our suggestions to help our AWM clients deal with the changes to business travel post-Brexit, including upskilling internal stakeholders as well as travellers, ensuring processes are in place to deal with any compliance obligations in advance of travel, identifying frequent travellers and thinking about how requests to work abroad could be managed. The key? Make sure you plan ahead.
Looking Ahead
As we move further into 2021, we will continue to see the evolution of the ramifications of Brexit on the EU and UK funds landscape. We will continue to follow all these regulatory developments very closely and help our clients navigate through this uncertain landscape. If there are any areas where you feel PwC should consider for an in depth webinar then please contact us on the emails detailed below.
For further information, please contact:
Robert Mellor
Partner and AWM Beyond Brexit Leader
M: +44 (0)7734 607485
E: robert.mellor@pwc.com
Nick Tye
Manager
M: +44 (0)7483 399351
E: nick.tye@pwc.com
