The impact of Basic Income Month
Posted on 03 May 2022 Categories: New economic models, News, Reports, Social Security
by Rethinking Poverty
Compass and the Basic Income Conversation have published their report Basic Income Month: The impact of London Solidarity Funds and the case for local basic income schemes. The Basic Income Month project was a crowdfunding campaign run by the Basic Income Conversation and London Solidarity Funds. Donations were split between the four solidarity funds and distributed to local residents in December 2021. The report outlines research into the project’s impact and reflects on lessons for a national basic income.
According to the report, the impact assessment of the London Solidarity Funds ‘showed they are providing much needed financial support to people’ and indicated that a national basic income would provide many ‘with an increased degree of financial security’. The research found the solidarity fund payments were often used for food, and ‘disproportionately benefited mothers and people with no recourse to public funds’. It also found that ‘the payments made people feel less stressed, more financially secure and more connected to their community’.
On lessons for a national basic income, the report recommends that ‘a basic income should carefully consider issues around citizenship and immigration’ and ‘access to bank accounts would need to be addressed’. Crucially, it argues that a low level basic income wouldn’t avoid ‘all of the shortcomings of the current system if there is still no way for people to access an adequate income’.
The report concludes:
‘This project has provided us with some valuable challenges to the campaign for a basic income in the UK. It has compelled us to think more carefully about how we can make the case for a basic income for all, while having a positive impact on people in the short term.’
Read the report here.
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Posted on 03 May 2022 Categories: New economic models, News, Reports, Social Security