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Social Security Benefits: Migrants

Asked by Rupert LoweRestore BritainDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled Answered 27 November 2025UIN 93205

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what mechanisms are in place to ensure that individuals whose immigration status no longer entitles them to public funds are automatically removed from benefit systems; and how many such removals have taken place in each of the last five years.

Answered by Andrew Western

Universal Credit systems carry out daily automatic checks against Home Office data to identify any changes in immigration status, and subsequently, DWP caseworkers stop claims where the individual no longer has an immigration status that permits recourse to public funds.

However, the department does not hold data on the number of benefit claims disallowed after a review.

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