By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-10-14 16:35:47 | Updated at 2026-10-15 20:04:25
1 day ago
Britain's staggering benefits bill for foreign households could fund pensions for close to one million Britons, according to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures.
Households containing at least one foreign national received £11.92billion in Universal Credit payments during 2025, equivalent to funding the full new State Pension for almost 950,000 people for a year.
The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the Centre for Migration Control, shows that payments to these households accounted for 15.6 per cent of total Universal Credit expenditure.
Most shockingly, the £11.92billion total represents a whopping 25 per cent increase on the £9.5billion paid in 2024, with more foreign national families claiming year on year.
Spending had stood at £7.5billion in 2023, further marking a substantial rise over a two-year period.
Of the 2025 expenditure, some £7.7billion went to households where at least one foreign national was out of work, around 65 per cent of the total.
The DWP figures divide the spending into £6.613billion for households containing European Economic Area (EEA) nationals, and £6.069billion for those containing non-EEA nationals.
The EEA comprises the 27 European Union member states, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
The categories overlap, as some households include nationals from both groups. After deducting £762million in double-counted payments, the combined expenditure comes to £11.92billion.
British and Irish nationals are excluded from the DWP's foreign-national classification.
The figures can be compared with the current full new State Pension of £241.30 per week, or £12,547.60 annually.
On that basis, £11.92billion would cover a year's pension payments for approximately 949,982 pensioners.
However, the figures relate to entire households containing at least one foreign national, rather than benefits paid exclusively to individual foreign nationals.
They also include mixed households containing British citizens, meaning the pension comparison illustrates the scale of expenditure, rather than identifying money that could automatically be redirected.
The figures come as Reform UK earlier proposed significant changes to welfare eligibility under its policy document, Making Welfare Work, which was published over the summer.
Reform treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick and Deputy Leader Richard Tice outlined plans to restrict benefits to British citizens, with limited exceptions including Armed Forces service and contributory State Pensions for people who have paid into the system.
“Only British citizens will be entitled to benefits,” Mr Jenrick said at the time of the announcement, arguing that the welfare system should prioritise British taxpayers and people in need.
He claimed one in six Universal Credit claimants was neither a British nor an Irish citizen, and said £55billion had gone to foreign nationals over four years.
Reform UK estimates its proposed restrictions could save taxpayers £21billion annually by 2029, equivalent to around £700 per household.
Mr Tice said the proposals were intended to protect support for British people, including pensioners, and safeguard the State Pension triple lock.
The future of the triple lock, which increases the State Pension annually according to a formula involving earnings growth, inflation and a minimum rise of 2.5 per cent, faces renewed scrutiny over its long-term affordability.
At the Labour Party Conference last month, Prime Minister Andy Burnham promised to bring changes to the triple lock from April 2030 onward, seeing a rise each year by whichever is higher - inflation or 2.5 per cent
The automatic annual link to average earnings growth would be reworked, with the changes projected to save roughly £15 billion a year by 2040.
The government plans to use the savings to fund a new phased, free-at-the-point-of-need National Care Service in England.
A Government spokesman said: "Under this Government, net migration is down by 82 per cent from its 2023 peak. Only people who are in the UK legally can claim taxpayer-funded benefits, of which around half are in work.
"Last November, we set out proposals to reform settlement which will double the standard qualifying period to 10 years for most migrants, with shorter routes for those who contribute most to the UK."
Under existing rules, foreign nationals may access Universal Credit, provided their immigration status grants them recourse to public funds.
These rules apply to refugees, individuals with EU settled status, and those who have obtained indefinite leave to remain.
