Part Three - ‘Benefit tourism’? EU migrant citizens and the British welfare state

Summary

The UK's vote to leave the European Union (EU) in the referendum of 23 June 2016 was to a considerable extent influenced by concerns about immigration. These concerns have been expressed in various forms, such as fears of cultural alienation or worries about downward pressure on wages exerted by cheap migrant workers. Notable from a social policy perspective is the fear that the EU's free movement policy places a financial strain on public services such as housing, schools and the National Health Service (NHS). For example, a poll of 1,002 British adults in March 2016, commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accounting (CIPFA), found that 78% of respondents believed that EU membership puts pressure on UK public services (CIPFA, 2016). Particular worries about ‘health tourism’ arose in relation to the free-at-the-point-of-use NHS. Social policy related concerns were also expressed in other forms in the run-up to the referendum; claims by the Vote Leave campaign that the contributions made by the UK to the EU budget could be spent instead on the NHS became particularly notorious in this respect.

A final important facet of the social policy related immigration debate has been subsumed under the controversial heading of ‘benefit tourism’, that is, the allegation that migrants do not come to the UK for work reasons, but due to the availability of social benefits and services. The debate on so-called ‘benefit tourism’ had already gained prominence long before the referendum in the context of EU Eastern enlargement in 2004 and the full opening of EU-15 labour markets to accession countries thereafter. As a consequence, a range of political parties took on board apparently widespread concerns about the exploitation of the welfare system by migrants and suggested policy measures to stop any alleged ‘benefit tourism’. It is also in this context that the UK's renegotiation with the EU in February 2016 had to be understood.The deal achieved by then Prime Minister David Cameron included concessions to phase in immigrants’ in-work benefits and to limit the amount of child benefit for children living in other EU countries depending on the standard of living abroad.