Migrants break benefits rules 200 times a day

Almost 200,000 penalties were imposed on foreign nationals claiming Universal Credit over two years Daily Telegraph 16/12/25 lihttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/16/migrants-break-benefits-rules-200-times-each-day/ Migrants are being sanctioned for breaking benefits rules more than 200 times a day, according to new data. Anyone who is receiving Universal Credit (UC) while out of work is required to enter into a claimant “commitment” with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This includes attending appointments with a work coach, updating their CV or searching for jobs.

Claimants are “sanctioned” if they fail to demonstrate that they are honouring the terms of their “commitment”. Between January 2023 and April 2025, the DWP issued 198,771 “adverse sanctions” against migrants claiming UC, data obtained by think tank Centre for Migration Control (CMC) show. That is equivalent to just over 1,600 a week, or more than 200 a day. Over the same time period, 1,356,226 sanctions were issued in total, meaning migrants accounted for 14.6 per cent. Lee Anderson, Reform UK’s welfare spokesman, said: “We are continually being told that mass migration is a good thing but these figures show that too many people are coming here for a payday by taking benefits and refusing to play by the rules. “Hard-working British taxpayers should not be footing the bill for those who weren’t born here. Only Reform UK has a clear plan to overhaul our benefits system, cut the ballooning £342bn welfare bill and get people back into work.” Migrants, like other claimants, can be sanctioned for breaking benefits rules. The lowest level of sanction removes UC payments from the date of a missed appointment until a new one is arranged. At the highest level, claimants could be stripped of UC payments for three months. Official figures show that nearly 500 migrants a day are signing up for benefits, with claims by foreign nationals at a record high. Last month, some 472 migrants a day began claiming UC, while the overall number of foreign nationals receiving the benefit rose to nearly 1.3 million, an increase of 6.7 per cent over the past year. Between March 2022 and March 2025, foreign national households received £24.79bn through the UC system. The total cost last year amounted to just over £10bn. Robert Bates, research director at the CMC, said: “It is hugely insulting that so many benefit-claiming migrants have refused to even comply with a relatively modest set of work requirements, and shows that many simply come to our country for a handout. “It is time to end the madness, and end foreign nationals’ access to the British welfare state, by scrapping Indefinite Leave to Remain.” Of the 50,655 sanctions issued in April 2025, 7,752 (15 per cent) were against migrants. In January 2023, the figure stood at 5,494, rising by 41 per cent over the period. Of the nearly 200,000 sanctions, 99,269 were against European Economic Area (EEA) nationals, 73,134 against non-EEA nationals, and 26,368 sanctions against migrants whose nationality could not be determined. Of the total sanctions, 118,563 were issued to those on the EU Settlement Scheme, 8,092 against those on humanitarian routes, 29,182 against refugees, 27,737 against those with Indefinite Leave to Remain, 12,732 against those with Limited Leave to Remain, and 2,465 on other immigration statuses. A DWP spokesman said: “Universal Credit is primarily reserved for people settled in the UK, and overall, the proportion of claimants in this country who are foreign nationals has fallen since October 2024. “But we want to go further which is why we have announced plans to double the standard time most migrants have to wait before they can access benefits to 10 years, reducing the burden on the taxpayer and making sure settlement rights are earned.”