Under Article 14.2 of the Agreement, as amended by the Supplementary Agreement, a person in the United States who has been incapable of work for a period of at least 364 days will be eligible to receive U.K. Long-term IB if the person meets two minimum contribution conditions (see Article 1.7(h) and (i)), as amended by the Supplementary Agreement.  The person must meet the “first contribution condition” based on U.K. coverage alone, but can meet the “second contribution condition” based on either U.S. or U.K. coverage.  To meet the first contribution condition, the person must have paid at least 52 weeks of U.K. contributions at any time prior to April 6, 1975, or paid U.K. contributions in any tax year after that date (and prior to disability onset) equal to at least 50 times the contributions payable on earnings at the lowest weekly level subject to contributions (the “lower earnings limit”, or LEL). 

To meet the second contribution condition, the person must have paid or been credited with contributions in each of the 2 tax years preceding disability onset equal to at least 50 times the contributions payable on the LEL in those 2 years.  A person can meet the second contribution condition based on U.S. coverage if he or she has at least two quarters of U.S. coverage in each of the last two years before disability onset.  (Because the U.K. contribution year starts on April 6 of each calendar year and U.S. quarters of coverage are not attributable to specific calendar quarters within a year, Article 14.2 provides that U.S. quarters of coverage will be assigned to specific quarters within a year and in the manner most advantageous to the claimant.)

Persons who meet the above requirements and are not receiving a disability benefit from the United States will receive the full U.K. incapacity benefit.  If a U.S. disability benefit is being paid, only a partial U.K benefit will be paid based on the amount of coverage credit earned in the United Kingdom.