Efforts by the Government to restrict migrant access to benefits would be unlikely to result in significant savings or reduce the number of people deciding to come to the UK, experts have suggested.
It comes after The i Paper revealed in July that ministers are considering restricting migrants’ access to benefits as part of efforts to tackle the small boats crisis.
Government sources said that ministers are looking at whether changes could be made to foreign nationals’ access to benefits to reduce the “pull factors” that encourage people to make dangerous crossings to the UK.
Asked about the issue at the time, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson said: “Illegal migrants with no immigration status cannot receive universal credit, and refugees and non-UK or Irish citizens can only receive payments once they’ve had their status granted by the Home Office.
“But we’ll always look at what innovative and new ways there are to restore order to the immigration system and secure our borders.”
Currently, asylum seekers awaiting the outcome of their claims are offered a place to live and can also receive £49.18 each week for things like food, clothing and toiletries, or £9.95 if their accommodation provides meals. They can also access the NHS.
It is unclear which benefits the Government would target but it could restrict access to the wider benefits system for foreign nationals who have already secured the right to stay in the UK.
Labour is looking at its plans to tackle rising migration – not just illegal migration – in order to counter the political threat posed by Reform UK.
Nigel Farage’s party announced on Monday that it would abolish migrant rights to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR), which enables them to access welfare if applicable, ban anyone who is not a UK national from claiming benefits and force migrants applying for citizenship to renounce other citizenship.
Other proposals included introducing higher salary thresholds for work visas, and expanding deportations, using disputed figures to claim billions of pounds would be saved.
But experts have outlined a number of hurdles for any plan to cut benefits as a means of reducing migration.
Ben Brindle, a researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, told The i Paper that for EU migrants who came to the UK under free movement and now have Settled Status, access to benefits is covered by the Brexit withdrawal agreement. It would be impossible for the UK to change their eligibility for benefits without an agreement from the EU.
Mr Brindle said that this is “highly unlikely” to happen.
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The Government is also unable to restrict eligibility for non-EU migrants who now have British citizenship.
And migrants on temporary visas such as work or family visas are already not allowed to claim benefits.
This means that the only group of people for whom the Government could potentially look to change the criteria for universal credit and other benefits are non-EU nationals with indefinite leave to remain. However, it is not clear how easy it would be to do this.
Mr Brindle said that in the year ending March 2025, the Department for Work and Pensions made £65.4bn in universal credit payments, of which 10 per cent (or £6.25bn) was paid to households with at least one EEA-national claimant (migrants from EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) and 8 per cent (or £5.31bn) to households with at least one non-EEA-national claimant.
These figures cannot be combined, as some households comprise both EEA and non-EEA claimants. They also include payments to UK and Irish claimants living in the same household as an EEA or non-EEA claimant.
Cutting benefits unlikely to discourage migration
He said that he finds it “unlikely” that restricting access to benefits for foreign nationals would impact the UK’s attractiveness from the point of view of a potential immigrant.
“Plenty of people have come to the UK on visas that don’t allow them to claim benefits,” he said.
“Migrants who can currently come on work visas need to earn well above benefits eligibility, while people who come on other types of visa, such as family visas, have non-economic motivations for migrating to the UK.”
Amreen Qureshi, a research fellow in migration, trade and committees at the Institute for Public Policy Research, told The i Paper: “People are already subject to extremely lengthy routes” to securing indefinite leave to remain, “and the Government is planning to extend the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain to 10 years.
“The 10-year route to settlement denies families access to public funds for a decade. IPPR’s research found these drives many into destitution and debt, with damaging impacts on children in particular. Extending waiting times further would worsen hardship without delivering meaningful savings.”
She also said that work from the Migration Advisory Committee suggests that “welfare rules are not a primary driver of migration, compared to economic opportunity, family ties or safety”.
There would actually be an economic cost
Meanwhile, Ms Qureshi said the Government “collects substantial revenue from migration,” with Office for Budget Responsibility analysis calculating that on average, visa holders under most work, family and study routes (excluding asylum and EU settlement scheme) pay around £1,900 in visa application fees, £2,600 via the Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS), plus approximately £800 via the immigration skills charge imposed on sponsoring employers.
Overall, this results in billions in income for the UK.
“Rather than placing all the focus on placing more restrictions on our welfare system, the Government should deploy more targeted levers,” she said.
“It can redesign the immigration points system to reward employer investment in domestic training, and use a labour market evidence group to better match visa policy with labour and skills demand.
“Changing welfare rules is ultimately, unlikely to make a difference to numbers.”
What is indefinite leave to remain?
Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) gives people the right to work, study and live in the UK for as long as they like.
Usually, people can apply for it if they have legally lived in the UK on a visa for five years, although they may also need to meet salary requirements, which for most workers will be £41,700 per year, or the “standard going rate” for the type of work they’re doing.
Having ILR gives someone access to the benefits system where eligible, and also enables them to apply for citizenship, generally after 12 months.
It also enables their family to migrate to the UK under certain conditions.
The Government is currently consulting on a proposed doubling of the average wait to apply for ILR to 10 years from the current five.
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