Universal Basic Income: A Solution to Poverty?

 The nation's health could change as a result of how universal basic income affects people's finances.

200 men marched to London from South Tyneside in October 1936 to express their outrage at the destitution and unemployment in their hometown of Jarrow.

Universal Basic Income: A Solution to Poverty?

Nearly a century later, Jarrow is taking part in a small pilot project to see how universal basic income (UBI) could address the financial insecurity and health disparities that still plague the town. Two groups—15 people in Jarrow and another 15 in East Finchley, London—will each receive £1,600 per month for two years as a result of the program.

The results of this micro-pilot study, particularly the testimonies and experiences of the participants, will contribute to new UK data on the effects of basic income in these communities. This can be used to conduct additional research on how UBI affects these communities on a wider scale. This will demonstrate whether a case can be made for a national basic income, or at the very least for more thorough UK trials.

UBI typically entails providing all adult citizens with a consistent cash payment. It differs from current welfare systems that depend on the needs that have been determined for each individual.

Participants in this pilot receive the same payment as those in a different Welsh government project that pays out to people who have recently left foster care. A larger, locally representative population in each of these communities is the focus of the Jarrow and East Finchley pilot programs.

The project is based on our research on basic incomes, which indicates that addressing financial insecurity is crucial to advancing public health. The effects of COVID and the cost of living crisis on Britons who are employed, self-employed, or run small businesses have put many people at risk of going hungry, making this a particularly crucial issue right now.

Unprecedented levels of financial insecurity have been reached. Millions of Britons are fuel-poor, according to data from the Child Poverty Action Group, and the End Fuel Poverty Coalition found that 1,047 people died in England in December 2022 from living in cold, damp homes.

Without addressing inflation brought on by factors largely outside the control of consumers, the Bank of England's commitment to a gradual and sustained increase in interest rates has made repossession rates worse.

A second pandemic has resulted from this, mental illness, which will only get worse. According to our most recent report, only audacious interventions will allow us to end the current crisis.

A radical but, in our opinion, workable replacement for the current, failing welfare system is universal basic income (UBI). It could address regional and national inequality, significantly boost the country's health, and reduce poverty to previously unheard-of levels.

an unconventional strategy

The government has pledged to redesign healthcare so that it focuses less on simply curing existing illnesses and more on averting them altogether. Elimination of poverty and the reduction of inequality are two of the best ways to achieve this.

It is radical for the government to think that it can redistribute resources by paying citizens a sufficient amount on time and in a predictable manner. It flips the welfare debate on its head by transforming it from a discussion of payments to a small group of people who have no other way to meet their needs into a discussion of payments that shield both those in and out of work from the threat of destitution.

This could have significant effects on public health, one of which is frequently disregarded. Three ways in which a basic income that is set at an appropriate level can improve public health.

First, lowering poverty would make it easier for people to meet their basic needs by enabling them to afford better housing and food.

Second, lowering financial inequality would also provide individuals with the freedom to leave harmful, abusive environments. This would lessen stress and illnesses linked to stress. The dangers of being unable to leave these environments have been brought to light by the pandemic, and there may be serious long-term health effects.

Third, people's perceptions of their lifespan would increase if they had a more certain and predictable future. In the process, this might result in alterations in behavior. According to our research, those who have more certain long-term futures may be less likely to indulge in hedonistic behaviors like drug and alcohol abuse and more likely to engage in physical activity and health-promoting activities.

Some evidence suggests that those who feel they have some sort of future ahead will spend money on activities that enhance their health, such as healthier eating and fitness, even though there are examples of people "binge spending" after receiving significant benefit payments. People who are experiencing destitution, on the other hand, are more likely to engage in short-term, hedonistic behavior because they believe they won't have to deal with the long-term repercussions.

These effects would be felt most acutely in the regions of the UK, such as the north of England, the Midlands, and Wales, which are most adversely affected by the low incomes, inequalities, and general sense of hopelessness that are causes of ill health.

the equivalent of the NHS for this generation.

At the point of use, the NHS made healthcare free. The Labour government sought to comprehend why health inequality persisted three decades after its implementation.

The ensuing report emphasized how social and economic circumstances had an impact on people's outcomes. We need to address these issues, which have rapidly improved since the global financial crisis of 2008, to decrease health inequality. And UBI can accomplish this in the three ways mentioned above.

Future generations might look back on current debates over UBIs with the same perplexity we experience when recalling opposition to the NHS in the 1940s.

The solutions required by Britain go far beyond those put in place in 1945. One such solution that might be as well-liked and revolutionary as the NHS is basic income.