Tighter benefit restrictions and a register of migrant workers are set to be included among government measures aimed at heading off a big influx of people from new EU countries.

Home secretary David Blunkett will tell MPs on Monday that the two measure will be at the core of the government’s response to 10 new countries joining the EU in May.

Blunkett will detail how he plans to allay concerns that people living in the accession states will take advantage of EU legislation and head for the UK.

Ministers believe the register and new claimant rules will work better than introducing a system of work permits or going back on the government’s commitment not to introduce time delays.

Benefit shopping

To prevent "benefit shopping" - people coming to the UK purely to exploit the benefit system - the habitual residence requirement, which limits access to key benefits until after a year of living in the UK, will be widened.

Ahead of the announcement, ministers were urged to protect migrant workers from unscrupulous employers who would use workers from the new states as a way of driving down wages.

TUC leader Brendan Barber published a letter he sent to the prime minister, arguing that the free movement of goods and services within the EU should be matched by the freedom of workers to take jobs anywhere.

"The government must give urgent attention to accompanying measures to ensure that migrant workers are fully protected from unscrupulous employers seeking to exploit the economic disparities between their countries," he said.

"If such employers are not restrained, damage is done to both migrant workers and the indigenous workforce as pay, employment conditions and good collective agreements are undermined.''

Loopholes

He warned that some employers are already taking advantages of loopholes to flout minimum labour standards.

He urged the prime minister to take on employment agencies in food processing and agriculture by backing Labour MP Jim Sheridan’s private member's Bill on gangmasters.

"I hope that the government can respond positively to the Bill, and help to protect some of the most vulnerable workers in our economy," Barber said.