Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if her Department will take steps to monitor the roll out of a universal basic income pilot by Sheffield City Council; and if she will make a statement.

We are aware of experiments in universal basic income (UBI) around the world and we do not believe there is a case for UBI. We believe Universal Credit is the right approach for the UK because it simplifies the benefit system, promotes and incentivises work, including progression in work, and provides targeted support to those in most need in a way that is affordable.

In February 2018 the OECD concluded in its survey of the Finnish Economy that the complexity of the current benefits system in Finland was an obstacle to stepping into work and that the basic income experiment, whilst possibly enhancing work incentives, may increase poverty and would require increasing income taxation by nearly 30%. More recently, findings from the evaluation of the Finnish basic income experiment show some improvement in perceived wellbeing, but that it did not increase the employment level of the participants in the first year of the experiment. The OECD also developed a scenario for Finland inspired by the UK’s Universal Credit (UC). They found that this ‘would consistently improve work incentives and reduce complexity, with limited changes to the income distribution and limited fiscal cost.

This OECD blog post is particularly useful on the OECD’s work to compare UBI and UC.