Minimum Income Guarantee: Experts by Experience Panel report

Principle two: compassion

The Minimum Income Guarantee should be delivered with compassion and dignity, providing an assurance of a decent quality of life and fostering a caring society. The system should be delivered by well-trained and empathetic staff, aimed at reducing unnecessary stress, ensuring people feel confident to access support and understand that the Minimum Income Guarantee is for everyone.

Rationale

This principle reflects that panel members feel the Minimum Income Guarantee should be designed to avoid stigma and shame when accessing support, should foster a caring society, acknowledge that a minimum standard of living is a universal human right, be delivered efficiently by trained and empathetic, supportive staff, and provide financial security and stability to enable a dignified quality of life; one that enables people to make choices through alleviating poverty.

Additionally;
Not just about the money - people need support too to improve their lives e.g. mental health support, support to access work for the disabled. Requires universal buy-in from employers too.

Minimum Income Guarantee won't eradicate poverty overnight - need to be realistic about the challenge of ending poverty.

Importance of hope - delivery of help in a good way increases people's hope.

An efficient process needed to ensure financial security - variable payment process needed not just online but also by phone etc (so that it is) easy to access.

Considerations

• Accessing support - alleviating stress of accessing support (many don't access benefits because of the hassle).
• Supporting services you need as well as financial support - need to go hand in hand.
• Treat people with dignity.
• Respecting people's choices - process should protect the person to provide collaborative working to promote a better outcome.

Inclusive - should capture everyone in society - even those who don't need it should know about it - a 'moral rebranding'.

Communications

• Foundation for a better life, and how Scotland should be as a caring society.
• Minimum Income Guarantee - the acronym, catchy and draws people in to discussion about it. Good for marketing/publicity.
• Dignity - vs. notion of 'shirkers', a counterpoint/alternative to the negative.
• Freedom of choice/living you life/aspire.
• Consideration of hope, and the need for basic human needs to be addressed through a Minimum Income Guarantee so hope can be fostered.

Support

28 members voted on the level of support for this principle. Overall supported by 97% of panel members of which:

• 86% (24 members) 'strongly support'
• 11% (three members) 'support'
• and 4% (one member) 'strongly oppose'

Members were asked, "if you do not support principle two, please tell us what would be needed for you to support it". No members provided comments on how their support would be increased. As explained in the introduction, one member who disagrees with the idea of a Minimum Income Guarantee used this space to further emphasise their disagreement.