Monthly benefits to households with foreign nationals have surged to nearly £1 billion. The Telegraphhas the details.
Households with at least one claimant who is a foreign national received £941 million in March this year, up from £461 million in March 2022, representing nearly a sixth of the month’s Universal Credit payments.
Ms Reeves, the Chancellor, is already facing a growing backbench rebellion over her plans to cut welfare spending. Funding two months of benefits for households with foreign nationals cancels out the £1.4 billion the Government saved by axing winter fuel payments.
Experts suggested the increase reflected a surge in the number of asylum seekers being granted refugee status and in net migration.
Foreign nationals become eligible for Universal Credit and other benefits on the same terms as British citizens once they are granted either indefinite leave to remain or refugee status. …
The data, obtained for the first time under freedom of information laws from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), shows that the amount of Universal Credit being claimed by foreign nationals has risen by nearly 30% in a year, from £726 million to £941 million in March.
This accounted for 15.5% of the total £6.05 billion payments of Universal Credit that month, up from 14.1% in March 2022 but down slightly since when Labour won the General Election in July last year.
The rising costs follow soaring net migration, which after Brexit reached a record high of more than 900,000 in 2023.
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