"Work Is A Curse"
-A Universal Dole Proposal
Technically a "Citizen's Income", this UBI* proposal grants £173 per week for EVERYONE over 21 with a bank account and working full-time (30+ hours per week), alongside any UK citizen or resident (of any age under 25) living away from home or in care.
This increases to £325 (per week) when the recipient is between 25 and 55 years of age.
Post-55 this reverts to £173 per week for all previous recipients.
Any previous recipient continues to receive CI regardless of change in age or circumstance- unless they leave the UK for longer than two years or spend longer than two years in prison.
*Universal Basic Income
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
I also propose:
That all 16 to 21 year olds are entitled to £80 per week for continuing their education.
Full-time students (in further education) are entitled to "sign-on" during vacation periods (again, receiving £80 per week) AND housing benefit during term-time to contribute towards rent and living costs.
Tuition fees are to be set at a maximum of £7000 a year, with the government always paying half and the rest available as a loan. (Note that the proposed £173 per week works out at £9000 over one year, the amount students currently pay)
This proposal will, hopefully, eliminate poverty and homelessness in young people while encouraging people to work and study without risking remaining in poverty.
Residential qualifications are two years spent living in the UK.
I also propose that recent arrivals-long term are treated as residents-claiming asylum are entitled to £150 a week for the first three months and are entitled to work as soon as they arrive**. They are entitled to "sign-on" for £80 a week (if under 25) or £150 per week (if over 25). Asylum seekers and refugees have the right to work AND to live where they want.
The "dole", in any case, is not available to existing UBI recipients, but citizens and residents can claim disability (and housing) benefits alongside specific grants and loans for equipment. These loans, plus those used to pay university tuition fees, are paid for by National Insurance contributions. When the debt is paid, workers no longer pay NI.
In short, National Insurance is effectively abolished.
Taxes on the Poor, such as rent, Council Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) are effectively covered by the Citizen's Income. Working will no longer make one poor, neither will not working. The same goes for studying, having children, not having children and caring for a sick friend or relative.
**There should not be unfair competition between temporary and permanent residents/citizens and refugees should not be made destitute or vulnerable to exploitation. Neither should young adults leaving or about to leave care or, for whatever reason, are forced to leave home before they are eighteen. This is why CI does not automatically start at eighteen as there will be people at or over this age who will not need it and have other sources of income but there will be people at this age or younger who cannot rely on their families to support them.
"Leaving home" for university is still counted as leaving home.
People may argue that this cannot be paid for, but any near-automatic benefit automatically entails significantly reduced maintenance costs. In any case Citizen's Income effectively covers most wages, working out at £18,500 a year for most workers. This is actually greater than the salary of a Private in the British Army.
Compared to total government spending of 760 to 800 billion pounds per annum, Citizen's Income is actually less than the twenty thousand pounds spent for every British adult.
Arguably, poverty-or at least extreme homelessness-could be alleviated by providing everyone between 21 and 55 with £300 to £325 per week (over a month the money would cover the cost of a deposit and rent for a home)
-and providing everyone else with free bus travel, buses providing at least some form of shelter and transport costs currently making looking for and going to work almost prohibitively expensive.
-A Universal Dole Proposal
Technically a "Citizen's Income", this UBI* proposal grants £173 per week for EVERYONE over 21 with a bank account and working full-time (30+ hours per week), alongside any UK citizen or resident (of any age under 25) living away from home or in care.
This increases to £325 (per week) when the recipient is between 25 and 55 years of age.
Post-55 this reverts to £173 per week for all previous recipients.
Any previous recipient continues to receive CI regardless of change in age or circumstance- unless they leave the UK for longer than two years or spend longer than two years in prison.
*Universal Basic Income
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
I also propose:
That all 16 to 21 year olds are entitled to £80 per week for continuing their education.
Full-time students (in further education) are entitled to "sign-on" during vacation periods (again, receiving £80 per week) AND housing benefit during term-time to contribute towards rent and living costs.
Tuition fees are to be set at a maximum of £7000 a year, with the government always paying half and the rest available as a loan. (Note that the proposed £173 per week works out at £9000 over one year, the amount students currently pay)
This proposal will, hopefully, eliminate poverty and homelessness in young people while encouraging people to work and study without risking remaining in poverty.
Residential qualifications are two years spent living in the UK.
I also propose that recent arrivals-long term are treated as residents-claiming asylum are entitled to £150 a week for the first three months and are entitled to work as soon as they arrive**. They are entitled to "sign-on" for £80 a week (if under 25) or £150 per week (if over 25). Asylum seekers and refugees have the right to work AND to live where they want.
The "dole", in any case, is not available to existing UBI recipients, but citizens and residents can claim disability (and housing) benefits alongside specific grants and loans for equipment. These loans, plus those used to pay university tuition fees, are paid for by National Insurance contributions. When the debt is paid, workers no longer pay NI.
In short, National Insurance is effectively abolished.
Taxes on the Poor, such as rent, Council Tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) are effectively covered by the Citizen's Income. Working will no longer make one poor, neither will not working. The same goes for studying, having children, not having children and caring for a sick friend or relative.
**There should not be unfair competition between temporary and permanent residents/citizens and refugees should not be made destitute or vulnerable to exploitation. Neither should young adults leaving or about to leave care or, for whatever reason, are forced to leave home before they are eighteen. This is why CI does not automatically start at eighteen as there will be people at or over this age who will not need it and have other sources of income but there will be people at this age or younger who cannot rely on their families to support them.
"Leaving home" for university is still counted as leaving home.
People may argue that this cannot be paid for, but any near-automatic benefit automatically entails significantly reduced maintenance costs. In any case Citizen's Income effectively covers most wages, working out at £18,500 a year for most workers. This is actually greater than the salary of a Private in the British Army.
Compared to total government spending of 760 to 800 billion pounds per annum, Citizen's Income is actually less than the twenty thousand pounds spent for every British adult.
Arguably, poverty-or at least extreme homelessness-could be alleviated by providing everyone between 21 and 55 with £300 to £325 per week (over a month the money would cover the cost of a deposit and rent for a home)
-and providing everyone else with free bus travel, buses providing at least some form of shelter and transport costs currently making looking for and going to work almost prohibitively expensive.
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