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Brian, your notion of the EU is not up to standard. Britain is a full member of the EU, and not to be a member of the eurozone does not change this fact. Quite a few other EU countries are not members of the eurozone, but this does not make them any less EU members either.
The law that Marek mentioned, requires that any EU citizen who can prove to have been looking for work in Britain for 3 months, is entitled to the above mentione benefits. £250 is the maximum, and applies in particular to the London area, where rent is higther, hence the housing benefit would be a lot more than in Dover.
People from eastern Europe come in large numbers to Britain, they also go in large numbers to Germany and other western countries that are members of the EU, because the national average wage in the West of the EU is about three times higher than in the East.
People from eastern EU states who can prove to have been seeking work in Britain for 3 months will not receive more benefits than any British citizen, but exactly the same amount. So in an area where rent is high (London), so will the housing benefit be high, hence the reference to a maximum of £250. That would mean: £65 a week job-seekrs allowance, the rest on Housing benefit and Council tax.
Child allowance would be added if they have one or more children, even if these children live in eastern Europe and not Britain.
In fact, many eastern Europeans working in Britain receive child's allowance even though their children do not live in Britain.
If we see a surge in people coming to Britain from eastern Europe from May onwards, this will mean that the law has been widely publicised in the East, probably by their own governments, who would like to encourage peopleto take advantage of it.
The sort of people to expect are not the young hard-working ones who would get a job immediately in any factory, but the desperados, who would like to get benefits for free in Britain and send a tenner a week back to the family, which in their country would be a week's savings (providing they had a job).
We will probably see tens of thousands of people in their 50s with an official residence in Britain (a relative or friend), but sleeping out on the benches, while waiting for their benefits to come through so as to then rent a house.