Image source, bbc

Annie Miller from the Citizen's Basic Income Network in Scotland says she has not been involved with developing the pilots in Fife and Glasgow.

Ms Miller says she has been told it is a long term project and it is still very early days.

She says organisations like the DWP, HMRC and the government must be contacted and the Fife project prospectus will not be ready until after the local government election.

Ms Miller says the Glasgow project won't start until next year and it too is long term.

Tory MSP Adam Tomkins says it is "absolutely fascinating" and the thing that strikes him is that it can't be done properly without a full range of powers.

Mr Tomkins says he finds the pilots in Glasgow and Fife "foggy" because local governments do not have the full powers.

He asks exactly what is being piloted in Glasgow and Fife. 

Paying everyone in Wales a universal basic income would be a "worrying and extremely expensive socialist experiment", an economist warned last month .

Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford  said the idea was "attractive" and could help tackle poverty and inequality.

Supporters said it would help unemployed people who fear taking a job would lead to cuts in their benefits.

But Patrick Minford from Cardiff University's Business School said it was "not a workable scheme".

Under  Universal Basic Income (UBI)  everyone would receive the same sum of money regardless of whether they work or not.

There would be no requirements to show an individual is looking for a job either.

Image source, bbc

RSA director Anthony Painter don't let the American libertarian right introduce the basic income.

Mr Painter says the basic income would be a clear statement that there are not two types of people in society, there is one.

He says there is support for this one nation approach.

Mr Painter says the note of caution from Prof Hirsch is a valid one.

Annie Miller from the Citizen's Basic Income Network in Scotland says she understands the argument about far-right groups trying to do away with the welfare state and says "we should fight against that."

Ms Miller says she comes from it from a left-wing position but some may disagree with the level of benefit as opposed to it being there at all.

She says the equity may appeal to both the left and right, "it doesn't have to be divisive." 

Image source, bbc

Siobhan Mathers from Reform Scotland says a basic income could be a key tool for growing the Scottish economy.

Ms Mathers says one of the beauties of the basic income would be it is very simple to administer and deliver.

She says it would allow adaption to societal change as it would be more flexible.

Professor Donald Hirsch is the director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough Univeristy , external:  

My paper, Could a Citizens Income Work?, external , addresses what it would mean to have a full citizen’s income in the UK today. 

It argues that it would certainly require two big things that we are not at present ready for as a society.  

Image source, Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough Univeristy

One is higher marginal tax rates as part of a major increase in the role of the state in redistributing income. 

The other is an acceptance by the taxpaying public that income should be given to every citizen unconditionally. 

Public attitudes in the UK in recent years have become more resistant to paying or voting for tax. 

People have also shown in surveys a hardening attitude towards giving money to working age people who do not work, and a perception that it is too easy to claim benefits, even at a time when conditionality has been increasing.  

Read more of the submission here., external

Professor Donald Hirsch the director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University says he disagrees that foodbanks would disappear if people are given £72 per week.

Prof Hirsch says a lot of people use foodbanks not because they have been sanctioned but because we don't have safety nets in place. 

He says for this to work there would need to be "very high tax rates".

He says "there are some families who are on benefits who would be worse off than they are now." 

Labour MSP Mark Griffin says there seems to be broad support for a Citizen's Income across the political spectrum, for different reasons.

Landman Economics director Howard Reed says a basic income provides a genuine social safety net, albeit between £70 to £100 at a low level.

Image source, bbc

Mr Reed says this could stop use of foodbanks and pay day lenders.

He says people have to exist on nothing for a period of time, often through no fault of their own.

A basic income could change the conception of what life is all about, he says.

Annie Miller from the Citizen's Basic Income Network in Scotland says she has a basic income and it's called a pension.

Ms Miller says she is working harder now than she ever has done so "we don't all just give up and shrivel". 

She says, if there is a basic income, job rates will fall and that having financial stability are one of the most important things about basic income for people.  

Image source, bbc

RSA director Anthony Painter says security and creativity go hand in hand.

Mr Painter says there has to be an ability not to fall right to the ground, there needs to be something catching you.

Basic income gives you a wedge of security, he says and adds it would be for a purpose.

Image source, bbv

Siobhan Mathers from Reform Scotland says there is evidence to show that a lot of people want to work or longer but the current system disincentivises it.

Ms Mathers says she has perhaps a more optimistic view of human nature.

She says Reform Scotland believes a basic income could up participation rates in the workforce.

Ms Mathers says the model Reform Scotland is based on the Green's Citizen's Income model.

Image source, Citizen’s Income Trust

Written submission from Annie Miller, Chair of Citizen’s Income Trust, external .

A Basic Income (BI) is defined as being: based on the individual, universal to a defined population, not means-tested, non-selective (except by age), unconditional and delivered regularly and automatically to those who qualify. 

It would be expected to cover only basic needs: food; alcohol and tobacco; clothing; household goods, insurance and other services; fuel and other housing costs; personal goods and services; travel costs; and social and cultural participation (see Minimum Income Standards, 2016, Budget Summaries 2008-16).

It would not be a life of luxury. 

A means-tested Housing Benefit system and a needs-based Disability Benefits system would have to be retained as parallel but separate systems, giving payments in addition to the BIs. Childcare provision would also be separate.  

Read more here., external

Image source, bbc

Annie Miller from the Citizen's Basic Income Network in Scotland says if the state intervenes first then people will respond. 

Ms Miller says all the evidence shows that people want to work and means tested benefits should be got rid off. 

She says the current system is based on men's working lives and does not match the interests of women at all. 

The basic income would free up women to do the work they want to do.

Image source, RSA

Written submission from RSA, external

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a regular unconditional payment made to every eligible adult and child. 

It is not dependent on income and so is not means-tested. 

It is a basic platform on which people can build their lives – whether they want to earn, learn, care or set up a business. 

Read more here, external .

Image source, bbc

RSA director Anthony Painter says the world of work has changed since the financial crash. 

Mr Painter says the basic income model is designed to give fundamental security to all. 

He says there needs to be a broader conversation about the type of contribution a basic income could make.

Written submission from Reform Scotland., external

Image source, Reform Scotland

Reform Scotland published The Basic Income Guarantee, external in February 2016. 

That report can be read in full on our website and includes a detailed breakdown of how the policy could be introduced and one way of paying for it. 

This written submission summarises the report. 

The current welfare system is confusing and ineffective The current welfare system is complicated both for claimants to navigate and for government to administer.

Successive governments have added to and/or tinkered with it in pursuit of their particular policy objectives. 

It is made up of a lot of different benefits, some of which interact with others, some of which are to be devolved and some of which are being reformed. 

It has universal and means-tested elements. Its operation often involves extensive bureaucratic interference in people’s lives.  

Read more here., external

Image source, bbc

Siobhan Mathers from Reform Scotland says the basic income guarantee would be a vehicle to entrepreneurship.

Ms Mathers says it would benefit businesses and individuals and empower them.

Written submission from Landman Economics director Howard Reed, external :

There are various different definitions of a "sufficient" income. 

One obvious measure of sufficiency is the Minimum Income Standard (MIS), which is calculated by researchers at the University of Loughborough for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. 

Image source, Landman Economics

The MIS is "a benchmark of adequate income based on what the public think people need for a minimum acceptable living standard in the UK." 

If Universal Basic Income (UBI) were designed to be sufficient to live on without any other income, this would seem to be an obvious benchmark to use. 

Unfortunately, due to the level of MIS for various types of family, it is unlikely that an UBI at (or even near) the MIS level could be funded using any conventional tax instrument.

Read more here., external

Image source, bbc

Landman Economics director Howard Reed says the current sanctions regime leads to people being thrown of benefit for no real reason and he cites the film I, Daniel Blake which he says is good at showing the current "sadistic system".

Mr Reed says a basic income gives people the chance to try different careers and it would not be a big enough sum to free people from looking for work to top up their incomes.

He says it would allow people to be freed from the "shackles of the worker ant model"