The number of EU migrants claiming benefits has more than doubled since Brexit

Claims from Romania and Bulgaria more than trebled - taking the figure from 66,00 to 190,000 among so-called EU 2 citizens. Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, told the Telegraph: EU migrants were hardest hit in the pandemic because of their concentration in hospitality and retail which closed for long periods. There's a pretty substantial increase in out-of-work claims for EU citizens. Citizens from the European Union who obtained settled status remain eligible to claim benefits and furlough under the UK's Withdrawal Agreement with the Brussels bloc. According to a read-out from the UK's Department for Exiting the European UnionEuropean Union, Boris Johnson's Brexit deal ensures citizens who have moved between the UK and the EU, or those who have interacted with the social security of the UK and a member state, before the end of the implementation period are not disadvantaged in their access to pensions, benefits and other forms of social security including healthcare cover. JUST IN: Rashford dismisses Sunak's calls to continue free school holiday meals - 'Already acted'.

A government spokesman has since said: We toughened the benefit rules when we left the EU. But reflecting the contribution EU citizens made in the UK, a limited number of UK benefits can, in certain circumstances, continue to be paid in the EU. This is universal and does not include reciprocal credit, which has only ever been payable to those in the UK. Among UK nationals, the number of people claiming working age benefits increased by 34 percent - from around 1 million to 1.6 million. While data from the Office for National Statistics ONS appears to show there has been a net exodus of 107,000 EU migrants to the mainland continent, the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue Customs are unable to say how many migrants are funnelling cash into Europe. READ MORE: Elderly woman dies from braziers after her electricity gets cut off after her braziers die.

One independent expert said: What no one knows is the number who left the UK to see out the pandemic in their home countries and failed to tell HMRC or DWP that they have left. This could have made payments abroad very much larger than the usual small percentage. The suspension of most in-person interactions at job centres during lockdowns will have made this possible and equally made it very difficult for the departments to make any estimate of how many might have done so. The Telegraph reports a senior source as saying: This is an issue we are worried about. There are 6.2 million EU nationals who have access to benefits, tax cuts, furlough during the pandemic. This money can often be claimed by those who have returned home to another country, which may not be sustainable or fair in the long run.