Benefits and pensions for foreign nationals ‘cost £23bn’
Spending on benefits and pensions for foreign nationals totalled about £23bn in 2025, according to a leading think tank, amid calls for a rethink on the impcat of immigration and the welfare system. The Centre for Social Justice estimated that the UK government spent about £23bn on benefits, pensions and child-related support for non-British nationals [...]
In 2025, the UK government spent approximately £23 billion on benefits, pensions, and child-related support for non-British nationals, according to a report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ). This spending, which included about £14.3 billion for working-age benefits, could potentially increase to nearly £27 billion by 2030, the CSJ estimates.
The research, based on data from the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs, and the Home Office, found that around 1.85 million non-British nationals received some form of welfare support in 2025. The report claims that this rise in welfare spending has accompanied a significant increase in immigration, with UK net migration peaking at around 944,000 in the year to March 2023.
Former Tory leader Sir Ian Duncan Smith, who founded the CSJ, called for the government to join up welfare policies with immigration policies, emphasizing the need to restore contribution and reciprocity to the welfare system amid growing concerns about the fiscal impact of constrained immigration on families and businesses.
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