TY - JOUR
T1 - Can Universal Basic Income work for disabled people? An examination of existing UK organisational and academic positions
AU - Johnson, Elliott Aidan
AU - Reed, Howard
AU - Johnson, Matthew
N1 - Funding information: This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust under Grant 223553/Z/21/Z.
PY - 2023/7/14
Y1 - 2023/7/14
N2 - Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been proposed as a means of addressing a range of issues relating to welfare systems, including by removing disincentives to economic, social and physical activity. However, UK disability organisations and figures have expressed concerns about whether UBI could lead to unintended consequences for people who currently receive support conditional on needs, means and/or behaviour. In this article, we outline prominent positions regarding disabled people in the literature on UBI and welfare reforms. We find that while there are reservations about the intentions and designs of UBI, there are means of securing positive outcomes and collaboration between its supporters and disability organisations. We also attempted a consultation but were unable to obtain a significant response. This was sometimes due to an expressed inability to respond meaningfully. This serves as a call for organisations to engage with UBI as a key issue of interest to disabled people.
AB - Universal Basic Income (UBI) has been proposed as a means of addressing a range of issues relating to welfare systems, including by removing disincentives to economic, social and physical activity. However, UK disability organisations and figures have expressed concerns about whether UBI could lead to unintended consequences for people who currently receive support conditional on needs, means and/or behaviour. In this article, we outline prominent positions regarding disabled people in the literature on UBI and welfare reforms. We find that while there are reservations about the intentions and designs of UBI, there are means of securing positive outcomes and collaboration between its supporters and disability organisations. We also attempted a consultation but were unable to obtain a significant response. This was sometimes due to an expressed inability to respond meaningfully. This serves as a call for organisations to engage with UBI as a key issue of interest to disabled people.
KW - Disability organisations
KW - disabled people
KW - Universal Basic Income
KW - welfare
KW - means-testing
KW - conditionality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85165060200&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09687599.2023.2233688
DO - 10.1080/09687599.2023.2233688
M3 - Article
SN - 0968-7599
SP - 1
EP - 20
JO - Disability & Society
JF - Disability & Society
ER -