UK Immigration and public services

The government of the United Kingdom has been making a very conscious effort to reduce the total number of immigrants coming in to the country and the system would be unable to handle it if it continued at the same rate. The government, therefore, promised to reduce immigration numbers.

Population and public services

The promise has been to keep the overall national population under 70 million individuals before 2028. However the rate at which the government has allowed immigration, there is a greater chance that this number will go up way ahead of that given year of 2028.

The rapid growth of this population has put a great strain on the public services that are offered to immigrants of other nationalities.

Depending on the kind of visa that the individual has entered in, they will be allowed or disallowed from using any of the public services that are otherwise provided to citizens. Most shorter term visas don’t allow individuals any access to public funding or money. However, most longer term visas allow for use of the public services.

List of Public Services in the United Kingdom

Following are a select few from the highly exhaustive list of public bodies and services that are currently available in the United Kingdom:

The United Kingdom Police
National Health Services
The Human Fertilization & Embryology authority
Cycling England
The Audit Commission
Design Council of the United Kingdom
The Health Protection Agency
Becta
SIA - Security Industry Authority
School Food Trust - Eat Better, Do Better
The Theatres Trust
Consumer Focus

The Impact of Public Service on Immigration

There are many issues that have been brought to the fore in the recent times, around the discussion of immigration and it’s impact on public service, and vice-versa. Some of the points of discussion have been:

All public services (social care and schools, etc.) are being pushed to their at most limits as the number of immigrants have gone up. The added concern is that the government isn’t able to keep up the rate of funding for these services at the same rate as the growing population that is using these services.
This kind of low funding due to large number of immigrants have resulted in a drastic reduction in the quality of the public services that are being delivered.
Such tight circumstances have also led to a greater risk of different kinds of community concerns and tensions - particularly in areas that are struck with poverty or extreme conditions.
Lack of English knowledge amongst the immigrant staff and individuals.

Strain on resources

Such strain on the resources has caused British nationals and existing United Kingdom residents to become anxious of the situation. While the free services are still available to all - the quality and speed are now under concern. It takes some individual many weeks to even get a doctor’s appointment - and these kinds of issues have caused the anxiety.

Great strains can be seen mainly on housing and other local services.