The number of Eastern European migrants claiming benefits has almost doubled in a year, costing the taxpayer up to £190million annually.
Around 167,000 migrants who came here to work are now receiving or claiming benefits – almost a fifth of those who have arrived since 2004.
The huge drain on public funds came as tens of thousands more Poles and their neighbours arrived in the first quarter of this year.
The latest Home Office figures are another example of the huge strain migration has placed on local authorities and the public purse
Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said: “Yet again we see their estimates on the number of accession migrants who would come here were woefully inadequate.”
Around 845,000 have now applied under the Worker Registration Scheme, including more than 540,000 from Poland, but the figure does not include the self-employed.
Of those officially registered, 167,371 are receiving or claiming benefits or housing support.
The number claiming child benefit has passed the six-figure mark for the first time. Some 102,029 are now receiving up to £17.45 a week – worth up to £93million a year.
Workers can still claim here even if the children are back home.....
A further 58,394 are receiving tax credits that range between £1,365 and £5,300 a year.
There are 5,818 claiming job seeker’s allowance, income support or pension credit and another 1,130 get local authority housing assistance.
The annual bill is a massive 82 per cent increase on the 92,000 who were claiming benefits at this time last year, who cost around £102million. Figures also showed that most workers were earning less than £8 an hour, sparking questions over how much they were contributing in tax.

And we are constantly being told thsat it is resident Britons who are too lazy to work for a living.......