{"id":120227,"date":"2026-05-08T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/?p=120227"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:37:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:37:34","slug":"migrants-claimed-benefits-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/migrants-claimed-benefits-last-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Government Data Reveals Nearly 1.5 Million Migrants Claimed Benefits Last Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nearly <strong>1.5 million migrants<\/strong> claimed <strong>benefits<\/strong> through <strong>Universal Credit<\/strong> during 2025, according to newly released government figures. The data showed foreign nationals accounted for almost one in six claimants, increasing pressure on Labour as ministers consider tougher welfare and immigration policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Government figures reveal scale of Universal Credit claims<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The figures, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, showed that <strong>1,497,774 migrants<\/strong> claimed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/universal-credit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Universal Credit<\/a> at some point during the <strong>12 months to December 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That represented <strong>15.6 per cent<\/strong> of the total <strong>9.6 million<\/strong> people who received the benefit during the year. It is the first time the Department for Work and Pensions has released this level of detail about the immigration status of claimants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The data include people who may only have claimed temporarily before moving into employment later in the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which groups claimed benefits?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The largest group of migrant claimants came through the<strong> EU Settlement Scheme<\/strong>, accounting for around <strong>899,000 people. <\/strong>More than <strong>145,000 refugees<\/strong> also received Universal Credit, while another <strong>66,497 people<\/strong> had humanitarian protection status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Around <strong>332,000 claimants<\/strong> held indefinite leave to remain or limited leave to remain, including dependants who joined family members already living in Britain. A further <strong>54,749 people<\/strong> were listed under \u201cother\u201d immigration categories, while more than <strong>31,000 claimants<\/strong> had no immigration status recorded digitally, reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2026\/05\/06\/nearly-one-and-half-million-migrants-on-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Telegraph<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7Nearly 1.5 million migrants on benefits.. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QOQHDd9CZ0\">https:\/\/t.co\/QOQHDd9CZ0<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Jacob Pape (@JacobPape4) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JacobPape4\/status\/2052521524972732716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 7, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Labour faces growing pressure over welfare plans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The figures have intensified debate around Labour\u2019s proposed migration reforms. The Government is considering plans to increase the waiting period for indefinite leave to remain from<strong> five years to 10 years.<\/strong> Ministers are also consulting on proposals that could prevent migrants from claiming welfare benefits until they become British citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Supporters of the changes argue migrants should contribute through work and taxes before gaining access to public funds. Critics inside Labour have raised concerns about applying tougher rules retrospectively to migrants already living in the UK. More than 100 Labour MPs are reportedly unhappy with some of the proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Critics warn welfare costs are rising<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Opposition politicians and migration campaign groups reacted strongly to the figures after their release. Shadow Home Secretary <strong>Chris Philp<\/strong> said <a href=\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/migrants-face-new-english-fluency-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">migrants<\/a> should not receive benefits before becoming British citizens. Meanwhile, the Centre for Migration Control claimed the welfare system was facing growing financial pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The overall UK welfare bill is forecast to increase from<strong> \u00a3313 billion<\/strong> in<strong> 2024\/25<\/strong> to around <strong>\u00a3373 billion<\/strong> by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Government defends reforms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the criticism, ministers pointed out that the proportion of foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit had fallen compared with previous years. A Government spokesperson said planned reforms would ensure migrants \u201c<em>contribute more than they take out<\/em>\u201d before becoming eligible for long-term support from the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Universal Credit health payment reduction for new claimants under DWP rule change<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RJ7wXuSg4l\">https:\/\/t.co\/RJ7wXuSg4l<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RJ7wXuSg4l\">https:\/\/t.co\/RJ7wXuSg4l<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Daily_Record\/status\/2052650742285029489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">May 8, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New government figures have revealed that nearly 1.5 million migrants claimed Universal Credit last year, fuelling fresh debate over immigration and welfare spending in the UK. The data has increased pressure on Labour as ministers consider tougher rules on benefits and settlement rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120229,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120227\/revisions\/120229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}