Dr Scott Blinder on government statistics on migrants claiming benefits

Scott Blinder of the Migration Observatory was interviewed by the 5 Live Drive programme at BBC Radio 5 (20 January 2012) on government statistics showing the number of foreign-born migrants claiming benefits in the UK.

These first ever government statistics showed that foreign-born migrants make up 6.5 percent of the total number of benefit claimants. Moreover, foreign-born migrants are less likely than UK nationals to claim benefits.

Scott said that the headline figure refers to people who may be citizens or refugees or settled migrants who may have been here for quite some time, arriving as early as 1975. He welcomed the release of the statistics which show that only a small percentage of the foreign born migrants make illegitimate claims.

The full programme can be heard here.