‘I work in the UK but still claim benefits’: The payouts to migrants at the very heart of Britain’s Brexit row
Despite running his own business, Bulgarian Simon signs on for £50-a-week
HOLDING a benefits form in one hand and cards plugging his decorating firm in the other, a Bulgarian migrant is all smiles at a UK Jobcentre.
Simon Lyebenov, 24, who only came to Britain a year ago, has just signed on for £50-a-week benefits, despite boasting that he already runs his decorating business.
He says: “It’s on offer, so why not take it? And it isn’t a lot. You can spend that in the pub in ten minutes. I’ve been given about 2,000 forms to fill in for it, too.
It looks bad, I know, but I want the extra money.
“It’s just to help pay the rent while I get more work. It is there to be given out and it will just help me with day-to-day life.”
Simon is in the London Borough of Newham, in the East End. Recent research carried out for Newham Council said “imported worklessness” — migrant workers claiming benefits — is one of three reasons the borough has an unemployment problem.
Simon is one of 1.6million EU migrants to have moved to the UK in the past five years and is among those receiving an annual total of £886million in income support, housing benefit, jobseeker’s allowance and sickness pay.
This has made it a crucial issue at the heart of Britain’s EU Brexit referendum.
Simon is legally entitled to claim jobseeker’s allowance — or JSA — while looking for work for his new business.
The Government’s self- assessment website shows he could claim £57.90 weekly if he works an average of 16 hours or less per week and has £16,000 or less in savings.
Newham is home to the Olympic Stadium, London City Airport and West Ham United and has an industrial working-class past, though it is a very diverse place today.
Market stall traders bellow their patter, yards from where men gather outside a busy mosque. On Prince Regent Lane, Indian restaurants and chicken shops sit alongside Lithuanian and Polish shops selling dumplings and Baltic sausages. This is London at its most multicultural.
The number of EU migrants moving to the borough is up 64,000 to 168,000 in ten years and the Department for Work and Pensions says last year 26,000 people applied for a National Insurance number in Newham — more than in any other part of the country.
The borough has an unemployment rate of 8.6 per cent — more than two per cent above the UK average.
At the busy Canning Town Jobcentre Plus there is a steady flow of foreigners, many who are from eastern Europe.
George Alexandrov, 23, came to London from Bulgaria’s capital Sofia around a year ago. The former barman, now living in Newham’s Silvertown, said: “I don’t claim but I’m with my friend for his benefits. I understand people who take the money, it’s a good offer.
“I’ve many friends who have been exploited by bosses. They’ve made them work long hours at less than the minimum wage.
“I think that’s created a big problem in this area. Workers know that some people will work for barely anything and that has forced other people to claim benefits.”
New mum Agne Jonuityte, 28, came to London five years ago and is one of almost 10,000 Lithuanian migrants in the borough. She says: “For many, the benefits system is too attractive, for British people and people from abroad.
Some like the attraction of getting something for nothing.
“I worked as a Starbucks supervisor until I had my son Neidas three months ago. Now I don’t work, I rely on my husband to do that.
“Most people I know who have come over from eastern Europe will make sure they work. I don’t know if some may be doing cash-in-hand work, but certainly they all try to earn without getting handouts. We have a strong work ethic in our country.”
Eldar Ahmadov, 32, and his partner Okbana Shmyr, 25, met after moving to London.
Software developer Eldar, who came from Azerbaijan in 2009, says: “Newham is an incredibly multicultural area.
“My street has Polish, Lithuanians, Bulgarians, Indians and Moroccans, with barely a British person to be seen.”
Secretary Okbana, who came from Ukraine two years ago, admits: “Britain has a very good benefits system. For some it is just too easy to claim benefits.”
Nothing can be done unless we leave EU
LORD GREEN, chairman of MigrationWatch, says:
MIGRANTS from across the EU have moved to Newham and elsewhere in London. They now make up more than half the population of the borough.
While most do find jobs they also find a shortage of housing and sky-high rents. Many families turn to housing and other benefits to make ends meet.
Limiting benefits will have barely any impact as new arrivals are often young and single and do not usually qualify for them. So there is little that can be done about the inflow of EU migrants for as long as we remain in the EU.
Home comforts in store
A CHAIN store dubbed the “Lithuanian John Lewis” has sprung up across the UK.
Lituanica, which has nine outlets and an annual turnover of £40million, stocks 3,000 products from eastern Europe.
Its branch in Beckton, East London, sells salted herrings in a can, vodka sweets, headless hake and pickled peas.
Michael Baksys, 36, who came to London from Lithuania six months ago, said: “We love having Lituanica here, you can get whatever you want from home. You can get shopping, have a Lithuanian beer and meal with friends in the restaurants, get your hair cut and get books from home.”
The firm, which was set up in 2001, also has branches in London’s Stratford and Walthamstow, plus Suffolk, Bedford, Birmingham and Kent.