English interpreters for foreign benefit claimants cost taxpayers £27m

Interpreters for benefits claimants have cost British taxpayers £27million over the past five years, according to official figures released under government transparency rules.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spending on interpretation services has risen dramatically since 2019, when the annual cost stood at £1.7m.

In the first few months of the Labour Government, the DWP has been spending an average of £25,000 per day on interpretation services.

Nearly a million calls to the Universal Credit helpline required a foreign language interpreter last year.

The figures come as the department announces plans to begin publishing data on the number of Universal Credit-claiming households with non-UK citizens, along with data on refugee claimants.

The highest annual spend on interpretation services was recorded in 2022, when the department spent £8m on these services.

While costs have decreased since then, they remain at historically high levels, with £4m spent in 2023.

The current spending represents a significant increase from 2012, when the department last disclosed the number of interpreter requests, which then stood at 271,695 for the year.

The Government employs interpretation contractors both at job centres and through video and phone calls to assist benefit claimants.

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Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who requested the disclosure of DWP interpreter call numbers, has called for the complete elimination of foreign-language interpretation services.

“Evidently, we are allowing too many low-skilled migrants into our country who are incapable of supporting themselves,” said the MP for Great Yarmouth.

A DWP spokesman said: “We support millions of people through Universal Credit payments every year, with only two per cent of hundreds of millions of calls to the department requiring an interpreter in 2024 and clear rules on who qualifies for support.”

His comments come amid rising pressure on the government regarding migration levels, with UK net migration reaching a record high of 906,000 in 2023.

Since the general election, 23,000 people have arrived in Britain via small-boat crossings of the English Channel.

The Conservatives have accused Labour of losing “control of our borders”, while the Prime Minister has criticised the previous Conservative government for running “an open borders experiment”.

Some 1,500 crossed the English Channel over the Christmas period, but poor weather conditions have meant no migrants have attempted the crossing since December 29.

One senior Maritime source told GB News: “The people smugglers have taken advantage of slightly better weather conditions today to send migrants across.

“But the weather is due to deteriorate with high winds which will make any journey even more treacherous.

“These people smugglers are once again dicing with death. But the ones taking the risks are the migrants, not the smugglers.”