Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU migrants left the UK because they had been on job seeker’s allowance for three months and had not found a job in the last year.

James Brokenshire

We do not hold the information requested on EU nationals who have departed. We only hold data on EU nationals who have left following immigration enforcement action.

We have been clear that EU job seekers will not be supported by UK taxpayers, and can be removed if they have not found work within six months. In addition, the new EU settlement negotiated by the Prime Minster confirms that we do not have to pay Universal Credit to EU nationals who come to the UK as job seekers.

From January 2014 to December 2015, we have served over 6,000 administrative removal papers to EEA nationals for a variety of free movement abuses, from non-exercise of Treaty Rights to participation in sham marriages, (2,635 papers were served in 2014, and 3,480 in 2015).