UK taxpayers supporting foreign based children

Treasury figures reveal that taxpayers in the UK are providing benefit payments for some 50,000 overseas children, mainly in Eastern Europe. The simple fact that if an EU nation worker is based in the UK then Britain will pay child-benefit tax to those left behind.

The estimated cost according to latest Treasury numbers is over £20 million taxpayer dollars each year for children in the homelands of one or both parents who legally work in the UK.

Despite the slowing of immigration from Eastern Europe in the past year the number of new claims for child support has grown by roughly 20%, with Polish nationals comprising most of the total. Poles comprise the largest percentage of the 51,000 children based on 30,000 some families who are receiving payments.

The Polish question has come under recent fire, with opponents of the payments pointing to the government’s declaration at the time the decision was made to allow new EU member nations to work in Britain that almost all benefits would be withheld. The appeal of the UK payments is huge to eastern European nationals whose home countries pay significantly less by comparison.

The UK child benefit payment is around £20 per week for the first-born and £13 there onwards. In Poland the figure is closer to £5 per week. Some even receive additional funding from back home or as a top-up service from the UK.

Total payouts to families from Poland are estimated at £24 million per year. In the past 18 months the number of children receiving assistance that are living in Poland has risen by 6,500 to 37,900.

Other countries receiving child support include Slovakia (2,500), France (2,300), Ireland (1,800), Germany (500) and Iceland (500).