In accordance with the Notice of Motion
received under Section 4.20 of the Constitution, Councillor Elin Walker Jones
will propose as follows:-
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 Base 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;
d)
believe 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;
dd) believe that Gwynedd is in an ideal situation to trial UBI;
e) requests
the Cabinet to look into
the comittment that would be required and to consider whether to volunteer to collaborate with bodies such as UBI Lab Cymru;
f) decide 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.
Decision:
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.
Minutes:
The following notice of motion was submitted by Councillor Elin Walker
Jones, in accordance with Section 4.20 of the Constitution and it was seconded.
"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;
d) 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;
dd) believes that Gwynedd is
in an ideal situation to trial UBI;
e) 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;
f)
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."
During the discussion, members supported the proposal on the basis:-
·
That UBI was a very real
solution to help people out of poverty and assist the economy, whilst reducing
the obvious inequality within our society, which has deepened during the
pandemic crisis.
·
That UBI was also a tool that
could get rid of the stigma and strain on people who claimed benefits, as
everyone received the same amount, and that everyone should be paid enough to
care for themselves, and their families, particularly in a period of crisis
like this.
·
Although it was
acknowledged that there were challenges and questions regarding basic income,
that there were a number of different models to introduce this, and a number of
them were being trialled in different places.
·
That the case for trialling UBI had strengthened
during the pandemic, and although there were many plans to help people
financially, many self-employed people and new businesses had fallen through
the net.
·
That Gwynedd would be the type of area that would be
well-suited to trialling UBI, as there were many self-employed and seasonal
workers here.
·
That many economists supported the concept of UBI, and
that it did not, necessarily lead to inflation if it was funded through tax
increases, with the wealthiest paying more.
·
That it was important to
set the basic salary level at the appropriate level as a level that was too
high would be difficult to fund, and too low a level would have very little
impact.
·
That UBI simplified the
benefits system.
·
That some people did not
claim the benefits owed to them at present, e.g. pensioners did not claim
pension credit.
·
That it had to be
acknowledged that UBI could remove the need for benefits completely, and as the
system needed to be flexible enough to include that, this underlined the need
to pilot different models world-wide.
·
That UBI gave an
opportunity, particularly to young people, to venture and develop their talent
in different fields, such as music and the arts.
·
That UBI enabled people to
care for members of the family without having to go out to work.
A member objected to this motion on the grounds
that giving a basic income to all would lead to a substantial increase in
inflation, and would shatter the economy, and he pleaded on everyone to take
this seriously and read the facts.
RESOLVED 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;
d) 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;
dd) believes that Gwynedd is in an ideal situation to trial UBI;
e) 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;
f) 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.