Key facts
- UK government spent approximately £23 billion on benefits, pensions, and child-related support for non-British nationals.
- Households with foreign nationals received a record £11.9 billion in Universal Credit last year.
- Universal Credit payments to foreign national households increased from £9.5 billion in 2024 and £7.5 billion in 2023.
- About one in six Universal Credit payments were to households with foreign nationals.
- Over half of Universal Credit payments to foreign nationals were to those out of work.
The UK government spent approximately £23 billion on benefits, pensions, and child-related support for non-British nationals, according to a report by the Centre for Migration Control (CSJ).
Households with foreign nationals received a record £11.9 billion in Universal Credit last year, an increase from £9.5 billion in 2024 and £7.5 billion in 2023, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show. More than half of these payments were to jobless claimants, and about one in six of all Universal Credit payments were to households with foreign nationals.
Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp described the figures as "shocking" and stated that "British taxpayers should not be paying billions in benefits to foreigners, especially given that over half of these payments are for people out of work."
Reform UK's Robert Jenrick attributed the rising benefits bill to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's policies on lowering minimum salary requirements for migrants. He suggested that if indefinite leave to remain (ILR) changes are not made, the cost to taxpayers could increase significantly.
Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, commented that the figures "make a mockery of the suggestion that mass legal migration has been a boon for Britain’s economy," calling the importation of low-wage workers a "fiscal disaster."
A government spokesman stated that net migration is down by 82% from its 2023 peak and that only those in the UK legally can claim taxpayer-funded benefits, with around half of recipients in work. The government has proposed reforms to settlement rules, which would double the standard qualifying period for ILR to 10 years for most migrants.