Authorities report increase in Polish workers applying for benefits
While there are many benefits to being a central part of the EU, the open employment market is one which does not yet appear to have benefited the UK. Over the last few years we have seen a significant influx of Polish workers into the UK and while the authorities continue to claim they are filling employment positions which are not wanted by UK workers, there has been a significant increase in benefit claims. As part of the EU, immigrant workers are able to claim the full range of UK benefits after they have worked here for just 12 months.
Indeed there are loopholes in employment laws which have allowed Polish workers, and other immigrant workers, to return to their original homeland and continue to claim UK unemployment benefit. While the exact figures with regards to immigrant workers who are now claiming benefits are fairly difficult to come by, there is no doubt that thousands of overseas workers are now claiming benefit in the UK. So what can the UK authorities do to reduce exposure to immigrant benefit claims?
The simple answer to the question is, nothing, with EU laws allowing freedom of movement for each and every person from an EU member state. As the UK benefits system is one of the more lucrative in the world it seems highly unlikely that we will see a significant reduction in benefit claims from immigrant workers in the short to medium term.
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