Minimum Income Guarantee Steering Group

Overview

The aim of a Minimum Income Guarantee is to provide everyone in Scotland with a minimum acceptable standard of living ensuring people have enough money for housing, food and essentials to allow them to live a decent, dignified healthy and financially secure life. It has potential to deliver transformational change, reduce poverty and inequality.

The steering group is made up of a cross-party strategy group and an expert group with representation from academia, the trade unions, poverty and equality organisations. Each member of the expert group brings a wealth of experience from their represented sector.

The expert group are working with an Expert by Experience panel to support policy development and co-design a minimum income guarantee. This panel consists of a diverse group of individuals with lived experience of financial hardship and insecurity.

The expert group will define what a minimum income guarantee for Scotland should look like, and what it will be comprised of, legislative impacts, costing and other topics which will contribute towards step changes for delivery. The strategy group will be tasked with ensuring that the expert group’s remit and membership remain fit for purpose. The work of the overall steering group will take place across the term of this parliament.

The remit, minutes of the meetings and any papers produced by the Minimum Income Guarantee Steering Group will be published on this page.

Members

The Strategy Group will be chaired by Shirley-Anne Somerville, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice while the Expert Group will be chaired by Russell Gunson, Head of Programmes and Practice at the Robertson Trust. The group is comprised of representatives from the following organisations:

Strategy Group

• Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, Chair, Scottish National Party
• Caron Lindsay, Scottish Liberal Democrats
• Miles Briggs MSP, Scottish Conservative Party
• Maggie Chapman MSP, Scottish Green Party
• Paul O’Kane MSP, Scottish Labour Party

Expert Group

• Russell Gunson, Chair, Head of Programmes and Practice, The Robertson Trust
• Andy White, Senior Officer, Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership
• Ben Harrison, Director, The Work Foundation
• Bill Scott, Senior Policy Advisor, Inclusion Scotland
• Catherine Murphy, Executive Director, Engender
• Chris Birt, Associate Director, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• Ed Pybus, Policy and Parliamentary Officer, Child Poverty Action Group
• Eireann McAuley, Policy Officer, Scottish Trade Union Congress
• Fiona Collie, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Carers Scotland
• Gerard McCartney, Professor of Wellbeing Economy, University of Glasgow
• Kirsty McNeill, Policy and Research Officer, Coalition for Racial and Equality Rights
• Mubin Haq, Chief Executive, abrdn Financial Fairness Trust
• Peter Kelly, Director, Poverty Alliance
• Philip Whyte, Director, Institute for Public Policy Research
• Rachel Statham, Associate Director, Institute for Public Policy Research
• Satwat Reham, Chief Executive, One Parent Families Scotland
• Tressa Burke, Chief Executive, Glasgow Disability Alliance

Publications