Nearly 1.3m international nationals at the moment are getting Universal Credit as Tories demand cuts to handouts as a substitute of tax hikes
Nearly 1.3million foreign nationals are now getting Universal Credit, figures revealed this week.
The latest government data show that 1,270,107 people who were not UK or Irish nationals were receiving the main jobless handouts as of last month.
That was up from 1,255,955 in September – although it is hard to tell how many are new claimants as other benefits are being transitioned into UC.
Although the overwhelming bulk of recipients – around seven millions – are British or Irish the figures raise questions about the generosity of the rules.
Around 760,000 were EU nationals who have continuing rights under the Brexit deal struck with Brussels.
UC can ‘top up’ income from jobs as well as being received by those who are unemployed.
Some 747,376 of the foreign nationals getting UC were not in employment as of September – the most recent month in which that breakdown is available.
Overall a record 8.3 million people were claiming Universal Credit in October. That was equivalent to almost a quarter of the working age population – up from 7.2million at the same point last year.
That includes four million people with ‘no work requirements’ attached to their benefits, meaning almost half of people claiming the main unemployment benefit are now exempt from finding a job.
The DWP stressed that the increase in numbers was down to people transitioning on to the benefit.
The Tories have been urging Chancellor Rachel Reeves to cut spending on benefits instead of hiking taxes in her looming Budget.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately described the figures published last week as ‘shocking’.
She said: ‘That’s millions of people not expected to work, when many of them could and should be contributing to our economy.
‘The spineless Prime Minister has already shown he’s not prepared to take the tough decisions our country need.
‘He caved into his Left-wing backbenchers on welfare reform and now it looks like he’ll do the same with two-child benefit cap. It’s classic Labour to pay more to people on benefits who have large families by picking the pockets of hard-working taxpayers.’
