The number of migrants receiving direct welfare payments from the British taxpayer has hit a record high, government data revealed this week.
Figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed that some 15.5 per cent of all Universal Credit (UC) welfare claimants were foreign-born, or around 1.3 million out of a total of 8.4 million people, both of which were new record highs.
According to calculations from The Telegraph, the number of foreigners on the dole as of May was around 20,000 higher than a year prior.
The largest cohort of recipients of Universal Credit — Britain’s principal welfare scheme for out-of-work or low-income people — was from the European Union, who were granted access to the UK welfare state under the Brexit withdrawal agreement negotiated by the former Conservative Party government.
EU nationals accounted for 8.9 per cent of all UC claimants, or around three-quarters of a million people.
Meanwhile, around 233,000 migrants receiving Universal Credit held Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), a residency status granted to those who have lived and worked in Britain for at least five years, after which they are granted visa-free stay in the country and full access to the same benefits as native Britons.
The impact of Indefinite Leave to Remain on the British welfare system has become a major point of debate, given that some 1.6 million migrants who arrived under the so-called Boriswave post-Brexit influx will soon be eligible for the status.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has proposed kicking the can down the road by extending the required time spent living in the country from five to ten years; however, it is unclear whether her left-wing party will back such a move.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has said that if elected, it would abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain altogether and replace it with an American-style five-year work visa system.
Reform has estimated that the Boriswave migrants who came to the UK between 2020 and 2024 will, over their lifetimes, take out an average of £20,000 ($27,000) in welfare benefits from the state, more than they contribute in taxes. This would cost the British taxpayer some £622.5 billion ($849bn) by 2085, the party predicted.
On top of ending Indefinite Leave to Remain, Reform has said that it would prohibit all foreigners from receiving welfare benefits, including those under the EU settlement scheme.
Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick said that doing so would save the British taxpayer £21 billion ($28.5bn) by 2029.
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