Households with migrants claim record £12bn in universal credit
Around 65 per cent – or £7.7bn –of universal credit payments were made to unemployed claimants
Households with migrants claimed a record £11.9bn in universal credit payments last year, figures show.
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The amount of universal credit claimed by households with at least one foreign national rose by a quarter from 2024 to 2025, data from the Department for Work and Pensions shows.
Almost £12bn in universal credit was paid out to such claimants last year, up from up from £9.5bn in 2024.
Households with at least one foreign national made up one in six of all universal credit claimants last year, according to analysis by the Centre for Migration Control.
And 65 per cent – or £7.7bn –of payments were made to unemployed claimants.
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Foreign nationals can claim universal credit if their immigration status allows them recourse to public funds.
That includes those with EU settled status and holders of indefinite leave to remain (ILR).
It comes as Andy Burnham mulls whether to push ahead with the Home Secretary's proposals to curb the settlement rights of migrants.
Shabana Mahmood has proposed delaying the right to claim ILR from five to 10 years, rising to 15 years for foreign care workers.
But Mr Burnham is facing calls to exclude care workers from the proposed reforms from around 100 of his MPs, including Angela Rayner. They have insisted it is “un-British” and “unfair” to apply the changes to migrants in the UK already.
The soaring number of benefits claims has been attributed by some to the influx of 4.2 million migrants under Boris Johnson, the prime minister between 2019 and 2022 due to the adoption of a points-style system.
Chris Philip, the shadow home secretary, blasted the "shocking" figures, adding: "Paying unemployed foreigners is an insult to hard-working taxpayers."
He added: “If Shabana Mahmood U-turns on her own ILR reforms as looks increasingly likely, we will see even more low wage and unemployed foreigners qualifying for benefits."
Mr Philip said the Conservatives would ban foreigners from claiming benefits, excluding eligible EU citizens, and make sure unemployed and low-wage foreign nationals leave when their visas run out.
Robert Bates, research director at the Centre for Migration Control, said the figures made a "mockery of the suggestion that mass legal migration has been a boon for Britain’s economy."
He added it was "unconscionable that universal credit is being used to prop up the lifestyle of idle migrants. Whitehall must now give serious consideration to scrapping indefinite leave to remain and overhauling the naturalisation process.”
A government spokesperson told LBC: “Under this government, net migration is down by 82% from its 2023 peak.
“Only people who are in the UK legally can claim taxpayer-funded benefits, of which around half are in work.
“Last November, we set out proposals to reform settlement which will double the standard qualifying period to 10 years for most migrants, with shorter routes for those who contribute most to the UK.”