Reform UK Proposes Ban on Foreign Nationals Claiming Welfare Benefits

Reform UK announced plans on Monday, August 17, 2026, to ban foreign nationals from claiming virtually all forms of welfare benefits in the United Kingdom if the party wins the next general election. The proposal, presented as part of a broader strategy to cut more than £50 billion annually from the welfare bill, would end eligibility for Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Pension Credit, Jobseeker's Allowance, Child Benefit, free childcare, and disability benefits for non-British citizens.

The party's Treasury spokesman, Robert Jenrick, stated the policy would save an estimated £21 billion per year within five years. "Forcing British workers to pay for the benefits of foreigners is not just economically illiterate but plain immoral," Jenrick said, adding that the British taxpayer "cannot afford to subsidise everyone on the planet, especially those who have not paid in." The measures extend beyond Reform UK's previous pledge to cut Universal Credit for migrants and would include EU nationals with settled status, which the party acknowledged would require renegotiating the post-Brexit withdrawal agreement with Brussels.

Jenrick warned that the UK benefits bill, forecast to reach...