Six out of 10 Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants claimed self-employed status
Oxford University report highlights how tens of thousands of workers from the two former Communist states claimed freelance status, winning wider access to benefits
Nearly six out of 10 Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants living in Britain last year claimed they were self-employed, allowing them full access to the welfare state, a new report has found.
The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory said its analysis showed 59.1 per cent of workers from the two former eastern European states said they were freelance, compared with just 14 per cent of the native UK population.
The figure was also far higher than the 15 per cent of self-employed people from the eight former Communist states – such as Poland – which joined the EU in 2004.
“Regardless of motivation, this status did provide access to the benefits system,” said the report.
The 59.1 per cent figure equated to 69,000 Romanian and Bulgarian workers, it added, although the figures were calculated before data released earlier this week showed a further rise in the number of migrants from the two countries in Britain.
