About 91,000 people from new eastern member states of the EU registered to work in the UK in the five months since the May expansion

About 91,000 people from new eastern member states of the EU registered to work in the UK in the five months since the May expansion, figures have shown. The worker registration scheme was created in response to concerns about an influx of migrants. However, ministers said up to 45% of those registered were in the UK before 1 May, possibly working illegally. About 2,800 claims for child benefit were received, and fewer than 500 tried to obtain unemployment benefits. There were 90,950 applications for worker registration from the eight states, Home Secretary David Blunkett said. The largest group by nationality to register were Polish with 56%, followed by Lithuanians (17%), Slovaks (10%), Latvians and Czechs (both 7%), Hungarians (3%) and Estonians (2%).