Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals have received Pension Credit for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of Pension Credit paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The requested statistics are not held by the Department.
Entitlement to Pension Credit depends on a person’s residence or immigration status, including the requirement to have the right to reside and to be able to be treated as factually habitually resident in Great Britain. Foreign nationals must also have an immigration status that gives access to public funds, which most will not have until they have lived in the UK for at least 5 years.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what is the total amount of Child Benefit paid to non-UK nationals since July 2024, broken down by month; and what proportion of that amount was paid for children who don’t reside in the UK.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC no longer produce a breakdown of Child benefit claimed by nationality.
This release was discontinued following user consultation.
The latest publication was in August 2022. Income Tax, National Insurance contributions, Tax Credits and Child Benefit Statistics for Non-UK Nationals: 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the amount paid in Universal Credit to claimants recorded as non-UK nationals by month since 1 July 2024.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Non-British and Irish nationals typically cannot access Universal Credit until they have been granted settlement after 5 years of lawful residence in the UK. The Home Office are consulting on doubling the standard qualifying period for settlement from 5 to 10 years. Exceptionally, some groups can access sooner, including people protected by the Withdrawal Agreement and Afghans and Ukrainians who have fled those countries.
Universal Credit awards are paid to households, so it is not possible to break payments down to individual members of a household.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people brought to the United Kingdom under the Gaza scholarship students route claim (a) Universal Credit, (b) PIP and (c) other benefits.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The majority of migrants on temporary, time-limited visas (such as for work or study) are subject to a No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition for at least 5 years. This restricts them from accessing certain public funded benefits and services. DWP cannot pay public funds benefits (such as Universal Credit) to individuals where the Home Office has applied an NRPF condition to their immigration status.
Students who are supported to exit Gaza are still required to meet all of the requirements of the student route, and are subject to the same No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) conditions.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals have received the State Pension for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of State Pension paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department does not hold data on the nationality of individuals in receipt of the State Pension, as nationality is not recorded as part of the State Pension claim process, as was the case under the last Conservative Government. Eligibility for the State Pension is based on an individual's National Insurance record over their working life.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many adults accompanying children that have been brought to the United Kingdom under the HMG Gaza Medevac scheme are claiming (a) Universal Credit, (b) PIP and (c) other benefits.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many non-UK nationals have received Winter Fuel Payments for the following financial years a) 2024/25 b) 2025/2026, and what was the total value of Winter Fuel Payments paid to those non-UK nationals in each of those financial years.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Universal Credit awards were made following the application of an exception to a No Recourse to Public Funds condition in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This information is not held centrally by DWP, and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals have had their No Recourse to Public Funds status withdrawn since July 2024, broken down by month.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on changes of conditions on GOV.UK within the Immigration and protection data: July to September 2025, available in tabs CoC_01 to CoC_07 of the Migration Transparency Data dataset.
When an individual is considered for assessment of Change of Conditions, various No Recourse to Public Funds conditions are checked, with ‘destitution’ being one of these conditions.
The specific information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Helen Whately (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many LinkedIn Learning licences were provided to Department for Work and Pensions staff; and what the total cost of those licences was, in each calendar quarter from Q1 2023 to the most recent quarter for which data is available.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The table below shows the number of licenses purchased and costs associated since Q1 2023.
These are annual subscriptions and have not been renewed since 2024.
| Q1 2023 | Q1 2024 |
Learning Licenses | 10 | 10 |
Costs | £3,264 | £3,600 |