New Universal Credit figures published (Image: inyourArea)
More than 1.2 million foreigners are receiving Universal Credit, the Government revealed today. Figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions show 118,749 refugees are receiving the benefit and at least 770,379 EU citizens and family members. It is the first time that details of the immigration status of people receiving Universal Credit have been published and the shocking figures sparked calls for non-UK citizens to be barred from claiming the benefit.
Conservative MP Nick Timothy said: "These statistics demonstrate the extreme dysfunction of both the immigration system and Britain’s welfare policies. And of course this is just Universal Credit: we are spending billions more on other payments like housing benefit, but the Government will not publish those figures. Benefits should only be available to citizens and even then only to those who truly need the help. If that means many low-income migrants leave the country, that will be a good thing for us."
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The benefit is claimed by 211,090 people with indefinite leave to remain in the UK who are not part of the EU resettlement scheme, which ensured EU citizens could stay in the UK after Brexit. It is also received by 54,156 people living in the UK on humanitarian grounds including people from Ukraine and Afghanistan. This is a different status to being a refugee. The majority of claimants, 6.6 million, are British or Irish citizens or people with a "right to abode" in the UK, which can include some citizens of Commonwealth nations.
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Universal Credit is paid to people on a low income. That includes people who are unemployed and looking for work as well as some people who do work but receive low pay, or some people with a long-term illness or disability.
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Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “These are staggering figures and are clear proof that the Labour government has lost control of our welfare system.”
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“Under Kemi Badenoch, we’ve set out a clear, common-sense position. Universal Credit should be reserved for UK citizens only. This is about fairness, responsibility and protecting support for those who’ve contributed to this country.”
“We’re calling on Keir Starmer to stop the drift and take action. British taxpayers should not be working hard to subsidise immigrants many of whom have only recently arrived. Taxpayers deserve a system that prioritises them, not one that continues to fund an unsustainable open-door policy.’’
The Government has announced that for the first time ever, the Universal Credit standard allowance will permanently rise above inflation, amounting to ￡725 by 2029/30 in cash terms for a single person aged 25 or over. This is the highest permanent real terms increase to the main rate of out-of-work support since 1980, according to the IFS.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it had published the statistics “following a public commitment to investigate and develop breakdowns of the UC caseload by the immigration status of foreign nationals in receipt of UC”.
People can only access Universal Credit if they have an immigration status that provides recourse to public funds.
Ministers have attempted to cut the cost of benefits for working-age people but faces huge opposition from Labour MPs.
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spending on both disability and incapacity benefits for working-age claimants is estimated to be around ￡55.1 billion in 2025/26. Claims are forecast to rise in real terms to around ￡60.7 billion by 2029/30, a 10% increase.
But attempts to limit the increase were scrapped following a huge rebellion from Labour MPs.
At the same time, campaigners are demanding the government scrap the two-child benefit limit, which would further increase spending, after the latest figures showed the number of children in affected households is approaching 1.7 million across Great Britain. The limit restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households.
There were 1,665,540 children living in households in England, Wales and Scotland affected by the two-child benefit limit in April, figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions on Thursday showed. This was a rise of 37,150 (2%) from April last year.
The Government is expected to publish a child poverty strategy in autumn, and a multitude of campaign groups as well as left-wing Labour MPs and Nigel Farage’s party Reform have said it must contain a commitment to do away with the two-child benefit limit.
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Nigel Farage has vowed to scrap the cap if his Reform UK party comes to power, but the Conservatives have criticised such a move as unaffordable.
A report from the Children’s Commissioner claimed some young people in England living in an “almost-Dickensian level of poverty”.
Lord John Bird, Big Issue founder and crossbench peer, said: “When we hear warnings of children in the 21st century living in Dickensian levels of poverty, we must call this what it is: a poverty crisis. And Government policy that creates this crisis cannot be tolerated.”
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