{"id":83,"date":"2013-10-17T18:18:39","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T17:18:39","guid":{"rendered":"\/2013\/10\/17\/non-active-eu-migrants-and-access-to-welfare\/"},"modified":"2013-10-17T18:18:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-17T17:18:39","slug":"non-active-eu-migrants-and-access-to-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2013\/10\/17\/non-active-eu-migrants-and-access-to-welfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Non-Active EU Migrants and Access to Welfare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Despite overall low rates of unemployment of EU
\ncitizens in the UK, the UK also contains the largest proportion of EU
\njob-seekers who have never worked, suggesting that our residence based benefits
\nsystem is all too easy to access. These migrants cost the taxpayer nearly \u00a3400
\nmillion a year. Whether they come originally for benefits or for work is a
\ndistinction without a difference for the taxpayer. There is also the wider
\nissue of the immediate availability of benefits such as tax credits to those in
\nwork which are undoubtedly a financial incentive to come to the UK. <\/p>\n

Main<\/strong><\/p>\n

2. The European Commission has published a report
\nthat looked at the impact of \u201cnon-active\u201d EU migrants on the social security
\nsystems of host countries. [1] It estimated that there were 600,000 non-active adult EU migrants living in the
\nUK in 2012.[2] Of these around a third were of retirement
\nage and an estimated 112,000 were job-seekers in 2012.[3]  Others will be unable to work due to disability
\nor in some cases, as a lone parent.  In
\naddition there will non-active family members and students.<\/p>\n

3. The report highlights an interesting feature of
\nemployment of EU nationals in the UK that reflects both strong job
\nopportunities and ease of access to benefits. The UK has one of the lowest
\nrates of unemployment among EU migrants at 7.5% [4] yet has the largest percent of EU migrant job-seekers who have never worked in
\ntheir country of residence at over one third 37% (compared to 16% in France and
\n18% in Germany).[5]<\/p>\n

4. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has data
\non certain working age benefits which show that as of February 2013 there were
\n60,000 claims from EU nationals for job-seekers allowance (JSA) along with 40,000
\nfor incapacity benefits.[6] In addition, non-active migrants of
\nretirement age can claim state pension benefit and of course all non-active EU
\nresidents can use the NHS for free. <\/p>\n

5. Not included in the European Commission report or
\nin the DWP data is information on claims for the other residence based benefits
\navailable to job-seeking EU migrants, such as housing benefit, and for those
\nmigrants with children: child tax credit; and child benefit.[7] Without these additional benefits it would be much more difficult for an
\nEU migrant to stay long in the UK while unemployed.  They may not have come<\/em> for benefits but they are<\/em> claiming benefits none the less,
\noften despite having never worked. <\/p>\n

6.  If we take the 41,000 job-seekers who have
\nnever worked (37% of the 112,000 identified in the report) and assume they are
\nclaiming both job-seekers allowance and housing benefit this gives an annual
\ncost to the taxpayer of almost \u00a3400 million (see Annex A). This excludes Child Benefit,
\nChild Tax Credit, education costs for those who have children and health
\nservice costs so the actual cost is likely to be higher.<\/p>\n

7. EU nationals have
\na right to reside in the UK as a job-seeker. To claim benefits they also need
\nto be considered as \u2018habitually resident\u2019 in the UK. In practice this is easy
\nto achieve.[8]  Claims by the European Commission to the contrary
\nare deeply misleading. The report comes up with several figures to try and demonstrate
\nthat a high proportion of applications for benefits are refused.[9]  However, all these figures relate to Eastern
\nEuropean nationals from the A8 accession states and pre-date 2011. Until May
\n2011 nationals from the A8 countries were not eligible for income-related
\nbenefits unless they had worked for 12 months continuous employment. This has
\nnow changed and they have the same rights as other EU citizens to claim
\nbenefits, including as job-seekers even if they have never worked in the UK.  <\/p>\n

Wider Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

8. The report only
\nlooks at the impact of non-active EU migrants on the welfare state. The wider
\nissue for EU migration and benefits is the immediate availability of benefits
\nfor those in work, such as tax credits. Such benefits greatly increase the
\nincome of someone on the minimum wage and so are an undoubted financial
\nincentive for EU immigration.[10]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Annex A<\/strong><\/p>\n

To estimate the cost
\nin job-seekers allowance (JSA) and housing benefit for EU migrants that have
\nnever worked some assumptions have to be made. <\/p>\n

Average JSA rate of
\n\u00a364.25 per person per week (halfway between 16-24 rate of \u00a356.80 and \u00a371.70 rate
\nfor over 25s).<\/p>\n

Housing Benefit rate
\nof \u00a3117.6 per person per week. This is based on half the migrants living in
\nLondon and in a typical location outside London such as Peterborough.  The estimated housing benefit bill is an
\naverage between one bedroom accommodation and shared accommodation for those
\ntwo locations.<\/p>\n

Lambeth shared
\naccommodation \u00a387.26 per week<\/p>\n

Lambeth one bedroom
\naccommodation \u00a3234.67<\/p>\n

Peterborough shared
\naccommodation \u00a357.50 per week<\/p>\n

Peterborough one
\nbedroom accommodation \u00a391.15<\/p>\n

Therefore one benefit
\nclaim will be \u00a364.25 +\u00a3117.6 x52 = \u00a39456 per year and 41,440 claims will be
\n\u00a3391.9 million.   <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n

[1] \u201cA fact finding analysis on the impact on the Member States' social security
\nsystems of the entitlements of non-active intra-EU migrants to special
\nnon-contributory cash benefits and healthcare granted on the basis of residence\u201d,
\nEuropean Commission, October 2013 http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/social\/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=1980&furtherNews=yes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2] Ibid figure 10.1 page 170<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[3] Ibid page 265 annex 11.1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[4] Ibid page 29<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[5] Ibis page 30 figure 3.10<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[6] DWP Statistical Bulletin, August 2013, figure 2.3 https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/attachment_data\/file\/233032\/nino-statistical-bulletin-aug-13.pdf<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[7] http:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/briefing-paper\/4.19<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[8] Ibid paragraphs 2 to 4<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[9] European Commission Report http:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/social\/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&newsId=1980&furtherNews=yes<\/a>
\npage 175 & page 176<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[10] http:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/briefing-paper\/4.20<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary 1. Despite overall low rates of unemployment of EU citizens in the UK, the UK also contains the largest proportion of EU job-seekers who have never worked, suggesting that our residence based benefits system is all too easy to access. These migrants cost the taxpayer nearly \u00a3400 million a year. Whether they come originally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,7,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-employment","category-european-union","category-welfare-benefits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNon-Active EU Migrants and Access to Welfare - Migration Watch UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.migrationwatchuk.org\/news\/2013\/10\/17\/non-active-eu-migrants-and-access-to-welfare\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Non-Active EU Migrants and Access to Welfare - Migration Watch UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Summary 1. 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