By Ruth Mosalski
See original post here.
“I wouldn’t have food in my fridge. I wouldn’t be able to have a shower. I’ve been there and to think that I’ve now changed all that just because a little bit of money. It has changed everything.” Those are the words of Jasmine, an 18-year-old who has been given £1,600 a month through a Welsh Government pilot scheme with no strings attached.
Supporters of the scheme, like the First Minister Mark Drakeford, say that by helping these vulnerable young people you’re not only giving them a chance at carving out their own future, but reducing the likelihood they will turn to benefits. The Welsh Government say as well as getting the financial support, those involved get financial wellbeing training and signposting to all available support. Opponents have called it costly, and the Welsh Conservatives say trials had shown basic income failed to incentivise work and had proven to be a “waste of public money”.
Jasmine has had a long history with social services and says she’s spent her life moving around. “I’ve been back and forth. I’ve been everywhere,” she says.
Until 14, she lived with her mum but then went to live with her dad. Two months later he went to prison so she went to live with her nan. When she became ill, Jasmine went into foster care. She spent four or so months in foster care but when her foster carer retired she went to live with her other nan, who in turn became her foster carer. Aged 17 she went to Kent to live with her mum before moving in with a partner.
The reality of that is no roots, a place she calls home or real friends. “I’ve never really had that place where I can say ‘my friends are here’. I have that now, but I didn’t have that for a very long time’,” she said.
That is all, she says, down to getting a £1,600 payment every month from the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government launched its basic income for care leavers pilot scheme 12 months ago. It saw young people leaving care and turning 18 between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023, given £1,600 every month for two years. There are no restrictions on how the money, which equates to £1,280 a month after tax, can be spent.
Before this, Jasmine was receiving £80 a week from social services. But she was in a relationship at the time and the access to that money was abused, she says. First told about the basic income pilot via her social worker, her initial worry was that was all she could have and wouldn’t be able to work.
“I’m not the type of person to be like ‘oh I’m getting money so I’ll just sit down and do nothing’.” Once told she could get a job as well, she used the basic income money to get herself settled and has just been accepted as a carer for adults with autism and also wants to complete her SIA training to be a security guard, giving herself a route to become a police officer.
“I want to be a security guard. I want to go down that route. I’ve always wanted to be a police officer or something like that but I’ve never had the confidence or qualifications and stuff like that and I’ve never been in a place where I can actually sit down and be ‘I want to do that’.”
Jasmine got her first basic income payment in March. Initially, she admits being excited at the independence but it wasn’t straight forward. “I finally thought I got to the stage where I didn’t have to owe anyone money and I could do it on my own. Prove people wrong. I did get there eventually…obviously anyone who thinks they’re getting a load of money is gonna go out and spend it all and that’s where it was first two or three months. I did, I went out to spend it all, I can tell you what I spent.
“I’ve had it for a few months now and I know how to spend it. I know what I’m going to spend it on and I do know where my money has to go first,” she said. Her £400 rent comes out immediately, followed by £80 for electricity and £60 for gas. There are then payments for her internet and phone, and what she describes as her “habits”. “Like smoking, I’m trying to sort it out,” she says. Left as free money at the end of the month is around £50, she says.
“I always keep money to top up in case I run out of gas or electricity or milk or bread. I always keep money for that.” For those who are sceptical about the scheme, Jasmine says that it has been a lifeline for her. “It has saved me”.
“The money is for people like me because we haven’t really had anything. We didn’t grow up with the privilege of having money to be able to go and do stuff. We’ve had to scrape for it. But obviously people will use the money differently. I know if I was who I was a few years ago, that money would have gone straight to something I shouldn’t even be doing. Where I am now, that money has been so I can live.
“I’ve got the right mindset to think that this money is helping me, and for me to want more money I’ve got to go and work. That’s what I’m doing and I’m working to get more money, which will help me out more then.”
Asked how she imagines herself if she didn’t have the money, she paints a bleak picture saying she thinks she would be in a homeless shelter for young women. “I see myself as having nothing. I wouldn’t have food in my fridge. I wouldn’t be able to have a shower. It’s hard because I’ve been there and to think that I’ve now changed all that just because a little bit of money. It has changed everything,” she said.
In total, £20m has been put aside for the scheme. Care leavers were selected for the pilot because they typically face poverty and other forms of disadvantage. In a statement in the Senedd on Tuesday, social justice minister Jane Hutt said 635 people have enrolled in the programme and started receiving the basic income.
A team from Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre at Cardiff University will lead an evaluation of the pilot looking at how the pilot was experienced and delivered, as well as the costs and benefits to wider society producing reports over the next four years. The first of those will be published in early 2024.
