Poverty could be eradicated in a decade by minimum state income, claims report
An income floor should be introduced by the next Scottish Government to ensure all Scots can feed themselves and their families, heat their homes and live with dignity, according to a new think-tank report.
The introduction of a minimum income guarantee, which would ensure a level that nobody would fall below, could eradicate poverty by 2030, says the IPPR Scotland analysis.
The think-tank’s radical recommendations also include the doubling of the value of the Scottish Child Payment at the start of the next Parliament, and then again to £40 a week within the next five years, paid for by a new social renewal supplement on higher rate taxpayers.
The report ‘Securing a living income in Scotland’ also urges the next Scottish Government to seek the power to remove the two-child limit and benefit cap, and consult on a premium for lone parents and disabled families in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment.
Furthermore, it recommends reforming council tax to raise additional revenues from higher-value properties, raise the value of newly devolved disability and carer’s assistance payments, and deliver a new social contract for work, including committing to ‘living hours’ alongside a living wage.
The report comes a day after new figures revealed child poverty was increasing in Scotland before the Covid pandemic with 26 per cent of children
living in relative poverty in 2019/20 – around 260,000 youngsters – compared to 23 per cent in 2018/19.
The Covid pandemic also showed the failures of the existing social security system, according to the IPPR Scotland report, and as a result they claim major transformation is needed.
Itsresearcherssaidtherewas a “concerning gap” between
current social security provision for low-income households and what is needed to support an acceptable standard of living.
They found some households are living on between a third and a half of the income needed to meet this standard, revealing that a couple with three children in Scotland could be left more than £1,300 per month short of what they
need. As a result the report recommendsaminimumincome guarantee that includes a monthly “core entitlement” of £1,244 for a couple and £792 for a single person. Additional payments for households with children would be worth £267 for the first child and £224 for each additional child per month – with no limit on the number – with the payment withdrawn as earnings increase. Overall, it says this would require an estimated £7 billion of additional investment in social security spending in Scotland per year.
And while further devolution of powers over social security and tax would be needed to deliver a full minimum income guarantee, the report states it is within the power of the Scottish government to take steps towards one, including establishing an independent body to set an income floor.
Rachel Statham, senior research fellow at IPPR Scotland, said: “The pandemic was a once-in-a-century test of our social security system and it failed. As we emerge from the health crisis, it’s now time to rebuild Scotland.”