Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to talk about a new scheme for care leavers in Wales that was announced last week. Under the plan every 18-year-old leaving care in Wales will be offered £1,600 a month over two years under a basic income pilot. This will be the highest amount to be offered on a scheme of its kind anywhere in the world. It is expected that about 500 people will be eligible to join the scheme, which will be taxed and counted as income by the UK Government. That means it would affect someone's eligibility for benefits. It will be unconditional and will not be withdrawn if participants get a job. Officials are saying it will be equivalent to a real living wage and will be taxed at the basic rate. It is an interesting proposals and something we need to look at closely here. The Welsh Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt MS, said the plans would "deliver financial stability for a generation of young people that need it most". A teenager who has foster parents and was interviewed about this said the pilot could make care leavers "equal with everyone else". Another interviewee said that people in care are "disadvantaged financially and this will bring us level". She also said it would be a safety net for those who have been in care who may not have support from their families and she noted that: "many have been damaged, physical and mentally - this can help pay for private counselling or therapy as often public waiting lists for these services are so long." That is not dissimilar to our situation in Ireland.

This plan for care leavers takes the concept of universal basic income, UBI, and applies it to a particular group so it is not UBI in its fullest form. However, it highlights how we can use the concept of UBI to support groups in a way that does not require eternal means testing and all these other things we have. To match the level of basic income for care leavers at about the real living wage is a bold move. In economic terms, if the project is successful and results in better paid work and healthier lives, the argument is that the long-term benefits would flow back into the economy. While this is not is a pilot of UBI, its outcomes will be relevant to the debate around that and that will be important to watch from here.

We have a plan for a UBI-style income scheme for artists coming down the pipeline in Ireland and that is currently being worked out but this proposed scheme in Wales is one for us to really watch. We should then consider whether we need to look at something bold, brave and radical to support our care leavers in Ireland. I know there are many people on either side of UBI . It comes down to one’s personal economics and whether one thinks it should be purely about economic growth or whether we value people’s happiness in other measures. I would like us to have a conversation, not only about how we support care leavers when they leave care but whether we need to look at some sort of bold, brave and radical plan for supporting care leavers in order to level out the playing field for people who have already been disadvantaged.