Eastern Europeans get £28m in benefits for children living outside UK, as twice as many claim since last year

The number of immigrants claiming benefits for children living abroad has also doubled since last summer, according to Treasury figures released yesterday.

Treasury ministers said 34,000 children in eastern Europe are now receiving child benefit designed for British youngsters.

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Claims for eastern European children – mostly in Poland – are rising by 1,500 a month.

Of the £28million being spent annually to support children in Eastern Europe, £25.7million is going to Polish families.

Tory leaders have demanded to know how officials at HM Revenue and Customs are guarding against fraud committed in the names of children living abroad.

Tory finance spokesman Philip Hammond said: "There are 3.8million British children living in poverty and we are sending £28million of taxpayers' money abroad because the benefits system is a shambles."

He added: "Allowing people to claim for children in eastern Europe is an open invitation to fraud."

The figures, which were revealed in a Commons from the Treasury, show 19,054 families in Poland were claiming child benefit for 31,399 children at the end of December.

Parents of 19,054 first-born in Poland were being paid £941 a year at the end of 2007 while £629 a year was paid on behalf of another 12,345 younger children.

Poles and workers from the other seven eastern European states which joined the EU in 2004 are entitled under EU rules to claim benefits for children left at home.

British child benefit of £18.10 a week for the first child and £12.10 a week for siblings can be claimed by every parent.

Under reciprocal EU rules, Britons living and working in Poland can claim a maximum of £160 a year in child benefit from the Polish government.

The difference between the two economies means, however, that immigrants are far more likely to come to Britain from Poland.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Overwhelmingly European Economic Area nationals are working hard and paying more in tax than they take in benefits, but nevertheless we think it right to review whether our rules are right."

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said a cross-departmental review was looking at benefits for EU nationals.

She added: "We know there are very many of our European partners who want to see a benefits system that works in a larger Europe."

A spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs said: "If eastern European nationals are working in the UK, have a right to reside here, are contributing to the UK economy and therefore paying their fair share of National Insurance contributions, they are entitled to child benefit."