UKIP’s Welfare Policy was last updated in January 2010 and
has been removed from www.ukip.org/media/pdf/UKIPwelfare.pdf
@johnnyvoid has tweeted “… luckily still up at http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/ukips-disappearing-welfare-policy-claimants-are-a-parasitic-underclass-of-scroungers-says-party”
It sounds similar to the Green Party Citizen's Income in that it proposes that every UK citizen should receive a simple, non-means tested ‘Basic Cash Benefit’ (BCB). It adds that part-time and temporary workers should continue claiming BCB until their wages reach UKIP’s proposed £11,500 personal allowance so they can take jobs without being heavily penalised by the system. (If you are wondering what is the equivalent threshold for the Green Party Citizen's Income, see the PS below.)
Here it is in full.
From Welfare to Workfare, A Welfare Policy for an Independent Britain, A Policy Statement, January 2010
The UK ’s
current welfare system is ridiculously complicated and requires an army of
bureaucrats to administer. There are more than 70 separate benefits, each
requiring masses of forms and helping to entrench dependency. UKIP’s proposals
will humanise the system and help people to help themselves out of the poverty
trap. UKIP will:
· Roll the mass of existing benefits into simpler
categories, while ensuring every UK citizen receives a simple,
non-means tested ‘Basic Cash Benefit’ (BCB)
· Roll key benefits – such as Jobseeker’s Allowance,
Incapacity Benefit and Student Maintenance Grant – into a single, flat-rate BCB
set at the same weekly rate as Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support. For
students, the BCB will be termed ‘Student Vouchers’ or ‘Training Vouchers’
· Allow part-time and temporary workers to continue claiming
BCB until their wages reach UKIP’s proposed £11,500 personal allowance so they
can take jobs without being heavily penalised by the system
· Merge Child Benefit, the Child Trust Fund, Child Tax
Credits and the Education Maintenance Allowance into an enhanced Child Benefit,
payable for each of the first three children in a family
· Merge Early Years’ Funding, Sure Start, the childcare
element of Working Tax Credit and the tax relief on Employer Nursery Vouchers
into a flat-rate, non-means tested ‘Nursery Voucher’ to cover approximately
half the cost of a full-time nursery place
· Ensure British benefits are only available to UK citizens or
those who have lived here for at least five years. Currently, British benefits
can be claimed by EU citizens in their arrival year
· Require those on benefits – starting with Housing and
Council Tax Benefit recipients in private rented homes – to take part in
council-run local community projects called ‘Workfare’ schemes. The schemes
will be in addition to council jobs
PS How much is the Green Party Citizen's Income?
To look up the equivalent threshold for the Green Party Citizen's Income, I searched in vain today. Leading Green blogger Clive Lord provides no figures at top Google hit www.theecologist.org/blogs_and_comments/commentators/other_comments/1706368/citizens_income_and_green_economics.html
No figures either at www.citizensincome.org/FAQs.htm
4. How much would the Citizen's Income be?
The Green Party general election manifesto 2010 states
In the longer run a fundamental reform is needed, … – a
Citizen’s Income. … We recognise that with the public finances in their present
state this is not the time to introduce such a scheme. However, we can make a
start by helping the two vulnerable groups above, with a decent Citizen’s
Pension scheme and a major increase in Child Benefit.
A figure is given for Citizen’s Pensions, however –
The Citizen’s Pension would be paid unconditionally to all
pensioners in the UK
(independent of contribution record) at the rate of the official poverty line
(currently £170pw for someone living alone, and the rate would be £300pw for
couples).
The comparison is to the “inadequate state pension (only
£97.65 per week for a full state pension for a single person)” at the time.
This is a bit misleading because Pension Credit would have topped that up to
about £130pw for a single person and £200pw for couples. (2012-2013 PC rates: £145pw for a single person and £222pw for couples.)
A citizens' income/basic income is a universal benefit paid to everyone. There is no means test and no cut-off, though obviously tax rates are higher to pay for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
ReplyDeleteThe UKIP BCB is something else. Their policy has gone but (part of it?) is quoted here: http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/ukips-disappearing-welfare-policy-claimants-are-a-parasitic-underclass-of-scroungers-says-party/
This describes the Basic Cash Benefit as non means tested but cutting off at £11500, if that makes any sense at all.
Agreed that describing a Basic Cash Benefit as non means tested but cutting off at £11500 makes no sense. I understand it as a taper on earnings, like with Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit, rather than a cut-off, so that makes a bit more sense.
ReplyDeleteIf GP has a policy that someone working from no hours a week to under, say, 16 hours a week, gets full Unemployment Benefit, that would create a
poverty trap or peverse incentive at 16 hours a week. So how do you avoid a taper on earnings?