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Migrants to the UK are to be quizzed about their English skills before being able to claim income-related benefits, the government has announced. In a move to "protect the integrity of the benefits system", people will also be asked what efforts they have made to find work before coming to Britain. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said people should not be able to "take advantage" of British benefits. Job centres in England, Scotland and Wales will use the "more robust" test. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said the test would ensure "only migrants who have a legal right to be in Britain and plan to contribute to this country can make a claim for benefits". "For the first time, migrants will be quizzed about what efforts they have made to find work before coming to the UK and whether their English language skills will be a barrier to them finding employment," the DWP said in a statement. Income-related benefits include council tax benefit, housing benefit, income-based jobseeker's allowance and pension credit. Mr Duncan Smith said British people were "rightly concerned" that migrants should contribute to the economy and should not be "drawn here by the attractiveness of our benefits system". "It is vitally important that we have strict rules in place to protect the integrity of our benefits system," he said. | 
