Gaby Hinsliff (Universal basic income can be the worst of all worlds – but ‘free money’ schemes do work, 18 February) hit the nail on the head in her discussion of “free money” schemes, in particular the impact of cash on cognition and mental health. Having now distributed well over 1,000 such grants since 2020 to destitute migrants with no recourse to public funds in Greater Manchester, we have seen exactly those results.
For the people we support, it can help clear their heads and provide just enough choice to achieve longer-term resolutions to their situations. For the people accessing our fund, Hinsliff’s point about the “basic income” part of universal basic income is even more on point. Migrants have been blocked from access to any income whatsoever by ongoing hostile policies, so simply allowing them access to the welfare state would be a huge leap forward for social and humanitarian justice.
Robbie Cowbury
Migrant Destitution Fund GM
• Re the suggestion that people out of a job could be given enough money to get by, I have a name for such a scheme: levelling up.
Rachel Marks
Twickenham, London
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