What does the universal credit immigration data show?

North Wales Chronicle

2 days ago

A total of 7.9 million people were receiving universal credit (UC) as of June 2025, up from 6.8 million a year earlier, according to the Department for Work & Pensions.
The vast majority of current claimants are people who live or work in the UK without any immigration restrictions: British and Irish nationals, plus those who have right of abode in the country.
Some 6.6 million people were in this category in June, making up 83.6% of all claimants.
This is a higher proportion than a year earlier (82.5%) as well as being a jump of one million from 5.6 million.
The next largest proportion are people who have a right to live in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme.
These accounted for 9.7% of all claimants in June 2025, down from 10.7% a year earlier, though the number of people in this category rose slightly from 732,107 to 770,379.
Some 2.7% of claimants were classed as having indefinite leave to remain in the UK, separate from the EU Settlement Scheme, up from 2.2% a year earlier.
This status gives people the right to live, work and study in the UK for as long as they like and apply for benefits if they are eligible.
Some 211,090 people were in this category, up from 150,838 in June 2024.
The proportion of claimants who had refugee status was 1.5%, down from 1.6%, though the number rose slightly from 111,011 to 118,749.
The percentage in the UK for humanitarian reasons was unchanged year-on-year at 0.7%, with the number up slightly from 51,146 to 54,156.
In addition, there was a fall in both the number and proportion of claimants classed as having limited leave to remain, or temporary immigration status, from 1.3% (86,129) to 1.0% (75,267).
Overall, people from outside the Common Travel Area of UK and Ireland accounted for 15.6% of UC claimants in June 2025, down from 16.5% in June 2024.
This covers the five categories of the EU Settlement Scheme, humanitarian status, refugee status, indefinite leave to remain and limited leave to remain.
The number of claimants across these categories increased from 1.1 million to 1.2 million year on year, up by nearly a tenth.
But the total number of UC claimants rose by a faster rate, up by nearly a sixth, from 6.8 million to 7.9 million.
This is why the proportion of claimants from outside the Common Travel Area shrank year-on-year, from 16.5% to 15.6%, even though the number of these claimants rose.
With 83.6% of claimants in June 2025 from inside the Common Travel Area and 15.6% from outside, the remaining 0.8% either had no immigration status recorded (0.4%) or were classed as 'other' (0.4%), such as people no longer receiving UC payments or ineligible partners of an eligible UC claimant.
These percentages have changed only slightly in recent years.
The proportion of claimants from the Common Travel Area of the UK and Ireland stood at 82.9% three years ago in June 2022, 82.4% in June 2023, 82.5% in June 2024 and 83.6% in June of this year.
The proportion from outside the Common Travel Area was 16.2% in June 2022, 16.7% in June 2023, 16.5% in June 2024 and 15.6% in June 2025.
The new data also includes a breakdown of universal credit claimants by employment and immigration status.
It shows that 34% of people on UC in May 2025 (2.7 million) were in employment and 66% (5.1 million) were out of work.
A year earlier the figures were 38% (2.6 million) and 62% (4.2 million).
Among the 5.1 million claimants who were not in employment in May 2025, 12% (604,914) were foreign nationals while 85% (4.3 million) were British and Irish nationals or those who have right of abode in the UK.
These figures stood at 12% (514,961) and 84% (3.5 million) in May 2024.
Of the 604,914 foreign nationals out of work and claiming UC in May this year, 343,741 were in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme; 109,324 had indefinite leave to remain; 60,753 had refugee status; 49,790 had humanitarian status; and 41,306 had limited leave to remain.
Universal credit is available to people on a low income as well as those who are unemployed.