Alarm at surge in Euro migrants on UK benefits

THE number of east Europeans applying for benefits has almost doubled amid growing fears that ­thousands of jobless ­migrants could see out the ­recession at the taxpayers’ ­expense.

BENEFITS European immigrants BENEFITS: European immigrants

Up to a million former eastern bloc citizens are eligible for some form of state handout.

Now experts are warning that even more jobless people are coming to soft-touch Britain to live off our generous benefits.

Calls were growing last night for the Government to clamp down on economic ­migration.

Sir Andrew Green, of Migration­WatchUK, said: “The number of eastern European people eligible to draw UK benefits is thought to be between 500,000 and one ­million but it is much too early to know the scale of the problem.

“The Government must renegotiate the benefit arrangements with eastern Europe before we have complete freedom of ­movement in two years’ time.”

Matthew Elliott, of ­TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “A year of National Insurance ­contributions is only enough to cover a few months of unemployment ­benefit.

“The potential loss is ­enormous. With Poland also in recession, there are few jobs and the welfare is much less generous, so the Poles will almost certainly stay, causing us a major ­problem.”

Job and benefit ­advisers ­report a surge in eastern ­Europeans ­asking for help, with Poles ­making up the vast ­majority.

Home Office figures show 4,049 migrants from the so-called ­Accession 8 (A8) countries – ­Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia – applied for benefits in the last three months of last year. That was ­almost double the 2,488 for the same period in 2007. More than half of the claimants were Polish.

With up to one million eastern ­Europeans eligible for benefits ­after working in Britain for 12 months, industry experts expect the claims to ­skyrocket.

Polish recruitment specialist Ania Heasley said: “There has been a quiet return to Britain ­because being jobless here is much better than in ­Poland.

“Quite a few did go back when the recession first hit but a lot are clearly coming back after realising they can’t get work in Poland.

“The mood is that the economic crisis in UK is better than the ­crisis in Poland.” Benefits available under the controversial Worker ­Registration Scheme include child, housing and council tax benefit, plus tax credits.

Workers can also claim more generous Job Seekers ­Allowance of at least £45 a week and ­hundreds of pounds in ­income support if they prove they have worked for at least 12 months.

A UK Borders Agency spokeswoman said: “The number of eastern Europeans coming here to work is dramatically falling.”

She added that the vast ­majority were young, without ­dependents and were in work.

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