Benefit claimants past and present have unveiled a radical proposal to scrap Universal Credit - and instead ensure all adults get at least £163.50 a week.
The sum - half the minimum wage - has been proposed by the Commission on Social Security group as a “streamlined” way of keeping millions of Brits out of poverty.
From April the minimum Universal Credit rate will be around £75 a week for over-25s, with top-ups for those with housing needs, children and disabilities.
But the Commission, whose leaders all say they have “lived experience of the benefits system”, say this should be scrapped and replaced by a new system.
Central to it would be a ‘Guaranteed Decent Income’ of £163.50 a week for all adults, including multiple adults in the same household.
This is similar to a Universal Basic Income, but instead of being paid to all adults rich and poor, would target those whose earnings slip below the £163.50 threshold or who don’t earn at all.
Child benefit would be set at £50 a week, more than double the £21.15 for the eldest child now, and Personal Independence Payment for the disabled would range from £83.70 to £230.77.
The plans were drawn up by the Commission, an organisation that looks at radical reform of the benefit system and is funded by inequality campaign group Trust for London.
The plans are not costed but Commission secretary Michael Orton claimed they would be a “post-war”-style investment that paid for itself through savings in other areas and a more healthy and prosperous society.
Dr Orton, of the Institute for Employment Research at Warwick University, said: “The pandemic showed that when times were tough it was unpaid carers, supermarket workers and others on low incomes who kept our society going.
"It also showed that if we choose to, we can provide social security for everyone.
“However, the recent cut to Universal Credit means the government is headed in the wrong direction. With a cost of living crisis looming in 2022, it doesn’t have to be like this.”
