£250k basic income pilot aims to reduceinequality in Fife

Fife, North Ayrshire, Edinburgh and Glasgow City Councils will work with NHS Health Scotland and the Improvement Service to explore the feasibility of pilot schemes

Pilots have already proved successful in Netherlands and Canada, promoting fairness and providing a basic income for people who want to earn, learn, care, or set up a business.

Fife Council’s co-leaders Cllrs David Ross and David Alexander welcomed the Scottish Government investment in the project.

“This means the steering group can move forward with the design phase of the project,” Cllr Ross.

“ I look forward to working with colleagues and partners over the coming months to test out what contribution this approach might make to achieving our common aim of tackling poverty in our communities.”

Cllr Alexander added: “This is an exciting step forward. We’ve now got up to two years to come back to the Scottish Government with our proposals and turn our ideas into reality.”

Communities Secretary Angela Constance added: “We committed in our Programme for Government to support work that seeks to better understand the impact of CBI on poverty and inequality, including the costs, benefits and savings.”

The four authorities will report back to the Scottish Government in September 2019 when a final decision will be taken on the pilot’s outcomes.