More than 4,000 foreigners have registered for work, benefits or tax credits in Shropshire in the last three years, new figures revealed today.

Non-UK nationals from areas including Europe, Africa, Asia have registered for national insurance numbers in the county.

About 4,700 people were given numbers, enabling them to work and entitling them to benefits or tax credits from the Department of Work and Pensions, statistics show.

Last year, about 930 people registered for national insurance numbers with Shropshire Council and 830 with Telford & Wrekin Council.

The top three nationalities entering the county were Poles with 450 registrations, 160 Bulgarians and 140 from India.

Telford & Wrekin Council says the figures do not represent exactly how many people are still in the borough as people often move on after registering.

In 2009/2010, about 1,410 people registered in Shropshire of which 290 were Polish, 160 were Latvians and 120 Bulgarians. The number of non-UK nationals applying for national insurance numbers in 2008/2009 was about 1,800. A total of 570 people were Polish, 130 were Indian and 100 were from the Philippines.

A Telford & Wrekin Council spokesman said: “Telford and Wrekin is a dynamic and vibrant place and the council regularly looks at a number of sources to assess the overall size of the borough’s population.

“These figures from the Department for Work and Pensions are just one of these sources. They make interesting reading but their value is limited as they do not represent an up-to-date picture as people will move after they have registered.

“A diverse community reflects the fact that Telford and Wrekin is part of a wider economy with free movement of labour according to need.”

Since 2002 there have been about 8,280 registrations in Telford & Wrekin and 6,980 in the Shropshire authority area. Until 2008, hundreds more registrations were handed out in Telford & Wrekin but recently Shropshire Council has handed out more, although the figure for both authorities has fallen.

Shropshire Council was unable to comment.

By Paul Mannion