Commenting on the calls for a temporary Universal
Basic Income, Anthony Painter, chief research and impact officer
at the RSA, said:
“Coronavirus is demonstrating why having such a complex,
conditional and punitive system of cash support is fundamentally
flawed.
“The primary issue in the very short-term is to help those
who are precarious and that means, for better or worse, using the
existing tax and benefits system as a delivery mechanism.
Statutory sick pay should be at least doubled and made available
to all workers, and we support the moves taken to make it more
accessible. We must shift away from conditionality in Universal
Credit payments, and these should be processed as rapidly as
possible with advanced payments
made otherwise. We
welcome the government exploration of employment subsidies with
business and the unions.
“Over the coming weeks, as more people risk falling through
the income floor, we will need to look at a temporary Universal
Basic Income. This could be done by turning income tax and
national insurance allowances into a universal cash payment for
all workers and backdating payments three months so there could
be cheques hitting bank accounts immediately. This will help
provide peace of mind and ensure that workers look after their
health and that of their families first.
“Ultimately shifting from Universal Credit to a Universal
Basic Income for all is the best path to underpinning economic
security in the longer-term, and has a role to play in 'winning
the peace' and helping secure a recovery very different that
after the financial crisis. That’s an important conversation, but
we must ‘win the war’ first.”
ends
Contact:
The RSA has published extensive
research on Universal Basic Income and its relatonship
with the existing tax and benefits system
