1.5 million non Brits on benefits…
Nearly 1.5 million migrants on benefits
Government figures reveal almost one in six Universal Credit claimants is not a British citizen
Nearly 1.5 million migrants received Universal Credit last year, according to figures.
They accounted for nearly one in six – 15.6 per cent – of the total 9.6 million people who received Universal Credit at some point during the 12 months to December 2025.
It is the first time that the Department for Work and Pensions has provided such analysis, which was obtained under freedom of information rules by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC).
It will increase the pressure on Labour to stick by Shabana Mahmood’s plans to force migrants who came to the UK in the “Boriswave” to wait as long as 10 years for the right to settle, before they can claim benefits.
It is estimated that foreign care workers and their dependants who came to Britain in 2022 and 2023, when Boris Johnson was prime minister, will cost the state some £9.5bn in lifetime benefits and other public services if they are allowed to settle in the UK from this year.
Of the 1,497,774 on benefits, more than 200,000 were refugees or had been granted humanitarian protection. The majority had come through the European settlement scheme.
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1.5 million non Brits on benefits…...[more]