The idea of creating a basic income to help support Scots and address inequalities is one that has been the subject of much discussion in recent years. However, Gareth Jones hears there are concerns that disabled people could actually be left worse off by the system.
Basic income has been heralded as a revolutionary move that could deliver a decisive blow in Scotland’s fight against poverty.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a tax-exempt, unconditional income source given to every citizen by the government, trials of which are underway in Finland, the Netherlands and Canada.
The benefit would be issued as a cash payment given unconditionally to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement. Scotland is at the forefront of countries giving serious consideration to whether introducing the payment is a viable means of tackling poverty.
A report last year recommended giving every adult in Scotland an annual wage of £2,400, rising to £4,800. Children would be paid £1,500. The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures) said this would end the stigma of receiving benefits, and also end the punitive Universal Credit regime. The country would also see long term benefits in terms of health and wellbeing.
However, one organisation has said that Scotland must proceed with caution to ensure that excluded communities are involved in the debate around UBI.
Inclusion Scotland has said disabled people are not being adequately considered in the debate around basic income, and may be actively disadvantaged by proposed schemes.
The charity says it recognises UBI has become something of a hot topic within civil society across the UK, and particularly in Scotland where it is gathering increasing levels of political and public support.
However the national disabled people’s organisation published a discussion paper recently which raises concerns that basic income may in fact make some disabled people in Scotland poorer.
Susie Fitton, policy officer for Inclusion Scotland, said: “Disabled people in Scotland have been hardest hit by austerity measures and welfare reforms through cuts to the inter-related social security payments and public services they depend upon.
“In this context, a utopian vision where poverty is eliminated by a basic income, where everyone has a secure income, and unpaid work such as caring responsibilities are valued on a par with paid work is potentially very attractive to disabled Scots.
“However, we find that discussions about UBI often fail to involve disabled people, and therefore to address key issues, such as how a basic income would meet extra costs related to disability.”
In September 2017, the Scottish Government announced in its Programme for Government that it would support local authority areas to explore a Citizen’s Basic Income (CBI) Scheme by establishing a fund to help areas to develop their proposals further and establish suitable testing.
The amount of funding offered was £250,000 over the two financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20 for a feasibility study. This complements funding already committed by some local authority areas, with the local authorities of Fife, Edinburgh, Glasgow and North Ayrshire collaboratively preparing and submitting a joint bid to the Citizens’ Basic Income Feasibility Fund.
These four local authorities are now working together in a two-year basic income pilot feasibility study, supported by NHS Health Scotland and the Improvement Service, and have formed a Scottish Basic Income Steering Group to advance this work. Since commencing research in May 2018, the Citizen’s Basic Income Steering Group has started work to explore key aspects of undertaking a pilot in the Scottish context, including political, financial, psychological, behavioural and institutional issues.
At present, the charity is concerned that a basic income in Scotland may in fact divert funds from those most in need of support or be so costly as to be politically unpopular, and ultimately unsustainable. Claims that UBI would remove the need for assessments for disabled people may also be unfounded, as a benefits system would still be required to supplement their income.
Fitton said: “Disabled people are currently subjected to a never-ending series of intrusive, inadequate, inaccurate and degrading assessments to receive disability benefits and would love to see these scrapped.
“However, the argument that a basic income would remove the need for assessments may be illusory. If UBI in Scotland is not set at a level which would cover the extra costs of disability, a system of disability benefits will still be needed alongside it and would almost certainly mean a system of assessments for eligibility. Should we not simply focus our minds on improving the system of assessments for the new devolved disability benefits?”
Inclusion Scotland believes there has been little to no involvement of disabled people and disabled people’s organisations in the design of basic Income pilots or feasibility studies globally, with the exception of a pilot scheme in Ontario, Canada, that gave disabled people an additional $500 per month to take account of additional living costs.
Ultimately, the charity sees this as a cause for concern. Fitton said: “We have seen with the roll-out of Universal Credit how what can be presented as progressive ideas can in practice affect widespread harm to disabled people.
“The same could be true of basic income if there is a similar lack of consideration of disabled people’s needs, particularly their extra costs.
“We hope by outlining the key issues for disabled people around basic income that we have provided a useful resource to others keen to see the inclusion of disabled people and their interests in this debate in Scotland.”
The discussion paper is available to download from the Inclusion Scotland website.
