Decision Maker: The Council
Decision status: Approved
Is Allweddol decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
To
adopt the proposal, namely that this Council:
a) believes that
the current benefits system is failing our citizens and causes hardship to many
Gwynedd communities;
b) notes the
concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) - where every citizen receives a sum
that is not based on means tests by the state to pay basic living costs, paid
to all citizens individually, whatever their employment status, their wealth,
or marital status;
c) believes that
there is a need to test UBI, as UBI has the potential to get to grips with key
challenges such as post-pandemic recovery, inequality, poverty, insecure
employment, and loss of community by:
i) giving employers a more flexible workforce
and workers more freedom to change their jobs;
ii) appreciating unpaid work, such as caring for
family members and voluntary work;
iii) removing the negative impact of benefit
sanctions and conditionality;
iv) giving more equal resources to people in the
family, the workforce and society.
ch) noting the UBI Lab Network work when developing proposals to pilot
and test UBI;
e) believes that
the UBI pilot should not be measured only according to the impact on those who
benefit from paid work, but also the impact on communities and what the people
within them do, how they feel, and how they identify with others and the
surrounding environment;
f) believes that
Gwynedd is in an ideal situation to trial UBI;
g) requests the
Cabinet to look into the commitment that would be required and to consider
whether to volunteer to collaborate with bodies such as UBI Lab Cymru;
h) decides to send a copy of
this Proposal to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Chancellor,
leader of Plaid in the Government, their peers in every opposition party in the
Senedd, First Minister of Wales and all Gwynedd MPs.
Publication date: 04/03/2021
Date of decision: 04/03/2021
Decided at meeting: 04/03/2021 - The Council