Reform UK has confirmed that foreign nationals, including European Union citizens holding settled status, would be barred from claiming most welfare payments under a Reform government. The party says the measure forms part of a wider benefits overhaul that it claims would save £21bn annually by its fifth year in office, though implementing it would require reopening negotiations on the UK's Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Because the change would affect EU nationals with settled status - those granted an indefinite right to live, work and study in Britain, typically after five continuous years of residence - altering the terms secured under the previous Conservative government's Brexit deal would be necessary. Reform has acknowledged this could trigger retaliatory action from Brussels, potentially stripping British citizens living in the EU of equivalent rights.
The announcement comes ahead of a speech scheduled for Monday, in which Reform's shadow chancellor Robert Jenrick will formally set out the party's welfare proposals. Jenrick argued the current system places an unfair burden on domestic taxpayers.
"Forcing British workers to pay for the benefits of foreigners is not just economically illiterate but plain immoral," Jenrick said in a statement.
"People are more than happy to support their neighbours in hard times, but the British taxpayer cannot afford to subsidise everyone on the planet, especially those who have not paid in."
Government figures show total welfare spending across Great Britain is projected to reach £322bn this year, equivalent to 10.6% of GDP, with slightly more than half of that sum going to pensioners.
What exactly would be banned?
Under the plan, foreign nationals would lose access to nearly every form of welfare support, including housing benefit, pension credit, jobseeker's allowance, child benefit, free childcare and disability benefits. A limited number of exemptions would remain, covering payments such as the war widows pension and Armed Forces compensation. Reform had already committed to excluding foreign nationals from Universal Credit before this latest announcement.
According to a report from the , the ban as detailed in Reform's policy paper would extend to free school meals in addition to free childcare and disability benefits, going beyond the categories initially listed. The same report notes the policy would not prevent foreign-born parents of British-born children from receiving child benefit or free school meals.
How does this fit into Reform's broader welfare plans?
The foreign national ban sits within a much larger restructuring of the welfare system that Reform says has taken six months to draw up across a 50-page document, with total projected savings of £50bn a year. On Saturday, the party separately confirmed it would scrap the current disability payments system, known as Pip, if it formed the next government. Reporting from ITV indicates this would involve abolishing Pip along with the health element of Universal Credit for working-age adults, replacing cash payments with local disability support accounts, a change Reform estimates would affect roughly 2.89 million claimants whose disability payments would be modified or withdrawn. The same report cites Jenrick saying the total savings from Reform's welfare plans would be "more than double" the £23bn figure pledged by the Conservatives.
Separately, coverage from the Telegraph suggests the disability changes would apply only to new claims going forward and would be limited to a specific subset of mental health conditions, rather than applying retroactively or across all conditions.
Reform's welfare package follows a series of related proposals the party has floated in recent months. Reform previously proposed taxing companies that hire foreign workers as a way of funding reduced employer National Insurance for British staff, a policy aimed at sectors such as retail and care. The party's migration stance has also included a pledge, echoed separately by the Conservatives, to bar foreign nationals from social housing, with Nigel Farage warning of relocation deadlines and deportation threats for those affected.
Has this policy direction been signalled before?
Reform's intention to strip benefit entitlements from EU citizens is not new. The party had already indicated in November 2025 that it planned to end benefit rights for EU citizens and other foreign nationals should it win power, according to earlier reporting from a national broadcaster's coverage at bbc.com. Separate reporting from September 2025, also via a national broadcaster's coverage at bbc.com, indicated that Reform's wider migration plan would exempt people covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, while EU nationals falling outside that agreement would still be affected. Meanwhile, official government guidance shows the Home Office began removing pre-settled status in April 2026 from individuals who had clearly stopped maintaining continuous UK residence, a process detailed in an official government update.
How have other parties responded?
Labour has criticised the proposals as reckless, warning they would reopen years of contentious negotiation with Brussels.
Labour said Reform's plans would be "plunging the UK back into years of Brexit renegotiations and stripping support from potentially millions of people who have lawfully lived, worked and paid taxes in Britain for years, and in many cases decades".
The Conservatives' shadow pensions secretary, Helen Whately, argued the public's priorities lie elsewhere.
Helen Whately said that rather than disputes about Brexit, "British people want welfare spending under control, abuse stamped out and dignity for people who are seriously disabled".
The Liberal Democrats maintained that fixing the NHS and social care system is the more effective route to reducing Britain's overall benefits bill. The Green Party accused Reform of targeting vulnerable groups while ignoring wealthier individuals, in a statement referencing Farage's acceptance of a £5m donation before he became an MP - a gift currently under investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog.
The Greens said it was "cowardly to take from the most defenceless when we should be taxing the super wealthy including those who are in the privileged position of accepting £5m donations".
The party's internal cohesion on immigration-related policy has previously come under scrutiny, including a public disagreement between Zia Yusuf and Robert Jenrick over deportation policy details, which drew criticism from both Labour and Conservative MPs.
What happens next?
Jenrick is due to deliver his speech formally unveiling Reform's full welfare plans on Monday, according to scheduling confirmed by a national broadcaster's coverage at bbc.co.uk. Coverage from ITV frames the announcement as the opening move in a broader policy rollout Reform intends to pursue ahead of the next general election.
Key Facts
- Reform UK says the foreign national benefits ban would save £21bn a year by its fifth year in government.
- The ban would cover EU citizens with settled status, requiring renegotiation of the UK's Brexit withdrawal agreement.
- Reform has budgeted a potential £500m cost for British expats returning from the EU if Brussels retaliates.
- Around 2.89 million disability claimants could see payments modified or withdrawn under Reform's wider welfare plan, according to ITV.
- Robert Jenrick will formally present the full plans in a speech scheduled for Monday.
