Handouts for foreign nationals?

11 March 2014

"New Home Office statistics reveal that 397,000 non-UK nationals received handouts in February 2013 — a rise of nearly 110,000 from 288,720 in the five years since 2008".

 Daily Express, 10 March 2014

The statistics do not refer to non-UK nationals claiming benefits, but are estimates of claimants who were non-UK nationals when they registered for their national insurance number (as referred to later in the article). Although it's fair to say they're all migrants, they may have since obtained British nationality or obtained the right to reside and work in the UK. One sample suggested as many as 54% end up with British citizenship.

This is a misinterpretation we've seen a few times (for example, here and here), although the release clearly states:

"These statistics do not provide a measure of non-UK nationals currently claiming benefits based on their current nationality. The statistics do provide an estimate of the number of people currently claiming benefit who, when they first registered for a NINo (that is, first entered the labour market), were non-UK nationals."

They're also not new Home Office statistics: they're published annually by the Department for Work and Pensions every August.

 

Full Fact fights bad information

Bad information ruins lives. It promotes hate, damages people’s health, and hurts democracy. You deserve better.