A radical plan that would see Universal Credit scrapped and all adults receive a minimum weekly payment of £163.50 has been proposed by a group of past and present benefit claimants.
The Commission on Social Security has described the plan as a "streamlined" way of keeping millions of people across the UK out of poverty as the proposed payment of £163.50 would be half the amount of the current minimum wage, reports Mirror Online.
The minimum Universal Credit rate will be around £75 per week for those over the age of 25 from April 11, however, people with disabilities, children and housing needs are entitled to benefit top-ups.
But the Commission, led by people who say they have "lived experience of the benefits system," want to see it scrapped.
At the core of the Commission's plan would be a 'Guaranteed Decent Income' of £163.50 per week. The money would be paid to all adults, including multiple adults living in the same household.
The scheme - which is similar to a Universal Basic Income - would see the money paid to adults whose earnings fall below the £163.50 threshold - or don't earn at all.
The plan would also see Child Benefit being set at £50 per week - more than double the current rate for an eldest child.
People claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) fora long-term illness, disability or mental or physical health condition would receive weekly payments of between £83.70 and £230.77, compared to the current payment rates of between £23.70 and £152.15 each week.
This would see claimants receive between £334.80 and £923.08 every four weeks.
Secretary Michael Orton has claimed the plans would be a "post-war" style investment that paid for itself.
He said this would be done through savings in other areas and a more healthy and prosperous society, however, the plans are yet to be costed.
Dr Orton, of the Institute for Employment Research at Warwick University said those on low incomes, such as supermarket workers and unpaid carers, "kept our society going" during the pandemic.
Dr Orton added the removal of the £20 weekly uplift to Universal Credit in October last year means the UK Government is "heading in the wrong direction".
"With a cost of living crisis looming in 2022, it doesn't have to be like this," said Dr Orton.
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