“… the case for an expansion of universal services, to be combined with a living income.”
.
The government points out that many services are ‘universal’:
Education, schooling and health summary – GOV.UK
Although it’s a bit more complicated:
Winners and losers from five decades of UK tax-benefit reforms | British Politics and Policy at LSE
One idea is to actually have ‘universal services’ freely available:
Universal Basic Services – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Universal Basic Income/Services in a time of crisis – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Meanwhile, there’s also more interest around UBI:
Although not everyone’s so keen:
Labour’s Welfare Chief Pours Cold Water On Universal Basic Income For Every Brit – Todayuknews
With a little back-story here:
Universal Basic Income – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Universal Basic Income: Alaska – Vision Group for Sidmouth
Universal Basic Income: Spain in a time of crisis – Vision Group for Sidmouth
However, in a paper from the NEF, these ideas have been brought together:
A SOCIAL GUARANTEE
The case for universal services
Too many people are unable to meet their essential needs. Before Covid-19 hit, three in ten people were already living in a household that did not earn enough to reach what the public thinks is a socially acceptable minimum standard of living. A recent New Economics Foundation (NEF) forecast shows that by November 2021, it is expected that nearly one in three households will be living below this publicly defined, minimum standard.
THE SOCIAL GUARANTEE
As Britain’s economy and society gradually reopen and we begin to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, we face big questions about what should come next. What’s needed now is a new social guarantee that enshrines every person’s right to life’s essentials, providing us all with the security of knowing that the foundations of a sufficient quality of life are assured. To make the social guarantee a reality, we argue that three initiatives are crucial:
- a living wage,
a living income, and
more and better universal services.
NEF recently set out proposals for a living income. This report makes the case for an expansion of universal services, to be combined with a living income.