More than a million migrants benefited from the universal credit welfare scheme in Britain at a cost to the taxpayer of £7.6 billion in 2023 alone, an analysis of official data has found.
Projections based on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data conducted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) have estimated that around 1,158,000 foreign nationals received universal credit, a monthly welfare subsidy paid to working-age households with low incomes, to mitigate the cost of housing, childcare, and other expenses. Migrants are eligible for the same benefits as native Britons once they are granted either refugee status or indefinite leave to remain in the country.
A freedom of information request from the think tank went on to reveal that households with at least one foreign inhabitant received a total of £7.6 billion in universal credit in 2023, The Telegraph reported. The CMC said that this would likely continue to increase given the record numbers of foreigners allowed into the UK under the former Tory governments.
This welfare money paid out to migrants does not include the support payments and accommodation provided to those awaiting their asylum claims, which totalled £5.4 billion during the same year.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said that the benefits figures were “unacceptable” and that it “is immoral that British taxpayers are subsidising nationals of other countries on an industrial scale. No wonder our taxes are so high.”
“Research shows low-wage migrants actually cost other taxpayers money. This is why the era of mass migration has to end. I have tabled amendments to the Borders Bill to create a legally binding annual cap on immigration numbers and an increase in the visa salary threshold to £38,000 across the board,” he said.
The Centre for Migration Control noted that the likelihood of migrants receiving benefits varied dramatically by their country of origin and that 40 nationalities were more likely to receive universal credit than British citizens. Based on the latest census data from 2021, migrants from the Congo were the most likely to be receiving such benefits, with 445 claims per 1,000 people.
Congolese migrants were followed by Iraqis at 434 per 1,000, Afghans at 414, Algerians at 361, Eritreans at 355, Syrians at 352, Somalians at 336, Iranians at 334, Moroccans at 286, and Slovakians at 283. In comparison, the rate of British citizens claiming universal credit in 2023 stood at 100 per 1,000 people.
In terms of raw numbers, Polish migrants represented the largest overall foreign cohort to benefit from universal credit, with 89,040 claimants. This was followed by 85,881 Pakistanis, 54,589 Bangladeshis, 45,727 Romanians, 33,561 Indians, 32,063 Portuguese, 23,627 Nigerians, and 17,933 Irish nationals.
Karl Williams, research director at the Centre for Policy Studies, suggested that the figures demonstrate that the government should seek to implement a “much more selective immigration system that prioritises migrants likely to be substantial net contributors.”
Similar calls have been made in response to findings that certain migrant groups were far more likely to commit serious crimes than British citizens.
A separate report from the Centre for Migration Control published earlier this month found that migrants from North Africa were 6.6 times more likely to have been convicted of sex crimes than Britons, while Middle Easterners were 3.8 times more likely, and Sub-Saharan Africans were 2.6 times more likely.
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