•If your circumstances involve more than one European Economic Area (EEA) state (or the UK and an EEA state), your benefit entitlements may be affected by the European Union (EU) co-ordination rules.

•The EU co-ordination rules are most relevant when you have moved to the UK from an EEA country or vice versa.

•This Handbook uses the phrase ‘EU co-ordination rules’ to refer to four sets of co-ordination rules, which can apply since the end of the post-Brexit transition period (11pm on 31 December 2020). They provide similar social security rights and require similar conditions to be met, but differ in terms of who, which countries, and which benefits, each covers, and the ways they can affect entitlements.