WIREDGOV

NIESR research shows that non-European economic and student migrants impose costs on UK public services that are small both relative to the total cost of these services and to the share of these groups in the population as a whole.

The report presents findings of a three stage study:

• A literature review on the impacts of migrants on state education, health, social services and social care.

• Estimates of migrants’ consumptions of these services by an allocation of costs on a pro-rata basis conditional on migrant and non-migrant characteristics.

• Consideration of the findings for UK immigration policy and improvements in measurement.

The key conclusion is that migrants overall impose somewhat less than proportionate costs on the public services examined (that is, their per capita consumption of public services is less than that of the population as a whole); this is especially true of the migrants that were the focus of the study (non-European economic migrants and those on student visas).

Although the fiscal and economic benefits of these groups were outside the scope of this study, the relative balance between what they cost and what they contribute is firmly weighted towards a significant positive net contribution, both to the economy, and to public finances.

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