A quarter of settled migrants from outside of the EU are taking from Britain’s benefits system, fresh analysis of Government data has revealed.
According to Home Office figures, there were 720,500 non-EU citizens with a right to stay in Britain permanently at the end of 2024.
Meanwhile, data from the Department for Work and Pensions from December 2024 revealed there were 179,482 non-EU migrants with indefinite leave to remain claiming Universal Credit.
This equates to roughly one in four non-EU migrants depending on handouts paid for by British taxpayers.
The Home Office has predicted around 1.6 million migrants will be handed permanent leave to remain in the next four years.
Should the current trend carry on, 400,000 people from this cohort will be claiming benefits by 2030.
The Conservative Party, which was behind the “Boriswave” surge in non-EU arrivals, has now pledged to drop immediate access to Britain’s benefits system to those given settled status.
Kemi Badenoch’s party has also vowed to extend the number of years of residency in Britain required before indefinite leave to remain (ILR) is granted.
One in four settled non-EU migrants depend on handouts paid for by British taxpayers
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Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told The Sun: “Those with ILR should not be able to claim benefits at all, unless under the EU settlement scheme or entitled by treaty.”
Meanwhile, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately declared that migrants coming to Britain “should be contributing” rather than “drawing benefits”.
A Government spokesman said: “The Home Secretary recently set out new conditions to get indefinite leave to remain, including being in work, and having no criminal record.
“We are also planning to double the standard time for migrants to settle in the UK to ten years and increasing the period of time it takes to access benefits.”
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Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called for the halting of benefits to migrants granted ILR
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PAAccording to Government data released under freedom of information laws last year, over £10billion in Universal Credit was dished out to non-UK or Irish citizens in 2024.
The figure equates to just under 17 per cent of the entire Budget allocated to the benefit – roughly £1 in every £6.
The £10.1billion statistic does not include foreign-born individuals who arrived in Britain as migrants and then went on to gain citizenship.
DWP figures also revealed the extent to which those given refugee status in Britain depend on the welfare system.
DWP figures revealed the extent to which those given refugee status in Britain depend on welfare
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PAAs of December 2024, 112,000 people with refugee status were claiming Universal Credit – roughly 66 per cent of all refugee adults.
The number refers to those granted refugee status after claiming asylum and not to those given the status after to coming to Britain via resettlement schemes.
Robert Bates, the research director of the Centre for Migration Control, said it was a “no-brainer” to end benefit payments to foreign nationals living in Britain.
He said: “It is unconscionable that hardworking men and women are being walloped with tax rises, and experiencing a decline in living standards, whilst billions are being wasted in this manner.”
