The Hague, House of Europe, 4th of October 2018

 Under the title ‘Minimum wage and poverty, hand in hand?’ EMIN Netherlands organised a well-attended conference in the House of Europe in Den Hague on 4 October. EMIN project leader Jo Bothmer explained in his welcome that this means that incomes from the Participation Act, the State Pension Act and the Survivor Act need to be increased by at least 5% extra in order to guarantee a dignified life. There are groups in society, such as the growing group of the working poor (340.000) that cannot survive because of the low level of income and existing social problems.

Anne Van Lancker, EMIN policy coordinator, presented the state-of-play of the EMIN project. Even when all EU countries now have a minimum income system, differences are big, as well in terms of design, eligibility, levels of payment, coverage and take-up. Only a few countries have adequate minimum income schemes. Often 20-75% of the potential beneficiaries has no access to the schemes due to strict conditions. Anne advocates to create social protections floors, including decent minimum income, to avoid the income levels to gradually fall below poverty levels. She explains what EMIN has done to contribute to that objective. With the slogan ‘Many voices make the choir strong!’, she makes it clear that European citizens can act together forcefully to advocate the need for an adequate minimum income with their government. Continue reading →

Trade unions and social protection experts from around the world have come together in Brussels this week to identify how financing social protection can and should be strengthened. Representatives from over 30 trade unions, along with academics, civil society organisations, government officials and international organisations discussed the range of options that governments have at their disposal to finance the extension of social protection to all people. They agreed that social protection floors for all are financially feasible in all countries and that governments need to get their priorities right to fund them.

See the full press release here: https://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-meeting-of-experts-confirms

On average over 16% of European Social Fund (ESF) is identified for supporting Active Inclusion. Active Inclusion is considered to be approaches which foster the participation of people distant from the labour market by addressing the barriers to their participation including through access to essential services, adequate income and accessible labour markets.    At a joint meeting of the Thematic Network on Inclusion (part of the ESF Platform) and the European Minimum Income Network (EMIN) to be held in Madrid on 20 and 21 September, representatives of Managing authorities and stakeholders will come together to discuss and share information on how this aspect of ESF is being developed and implemented. Examples from Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Belgium will inform the discussions. Examples of the application of the active inclusion approach will also be given from Denmark and Netherlands. Recommendations on how to strengthen and further develop this approach will be developed at the meeting.  To ensure you receive the report of the meeting and other related information sign up to follow: http://ec.europa.eu/esf/transnationality and www.emin-eu.net 

The European Minimum Income Network (EMIN) brings together representatives of Administration and stakeholders from 8 countries to share ideas and practice about the use of reference budgets for policy purposes.  Antwerp University is hosting and supporting the exchange of practice on 18 and 19 September. The Reference budgets being spoken about are priced baskets of goods and services that are needed to live in dignity and to participate in the society. The meeting will discuss current approaches to the use of Reference budgets and their comparability. The meeting will also discuss the use of Reference budgets for the assessment of benefit levels, for debt counselling, and for development of individual support services.  A full report of the meeting and the recommendations developed will be available www.emin-eu.net in the near future.

Atlas-of-Work-DGB-Germany  jointly published by Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB, German Federation of Trade Unions) and Hans Böckler Foundation (HBS).

This Atlas of Work presents facts and figures about jobs, employment and livelihoods. It explains many aspects of how our working world is structured today, how it is in constant motion, and what opportunities we, especially policy makers, unions and civil society, have to change it. It contains a chapter on Basic Income. The Atlas offers a solid basis for discussion on work and social protection in the future.

Contrary to reports in the international press, the basic income experiment in Finland will continue until the end of 2018 as planned. During the experiment that was launched in January 2017, 2000 unemployed persons between 25 and 58 years who are chosen at random, receive 560€ monthly. If their previous income was higher, the basic income is topped up. They can keep the basic income also when they find a new job. The aim of the experiment is to see if basic income can increase employment and simplify the social security system. At the EMIN peer review on coverage and take-up, Olli Kangas from KELA, the social security administration in Finland, presented the experiment, in which EMIN took as particular interest because it significantly reduces conditionality attached to benefits.

However, the same conservative government that introduced the experiment in Finland doesn’t seem to support the experiment anymore. It will not expand the experiment in following years to cover more people and target groups, as requested by KELA research group and some NGO´s. On the contrary, the government has introduced more conditionality to unemployment benefits, so called “Active model”, which cuts around 5% of the unemployment benefits, if one fails to satisfy employment officials that they have either worked for 18 hours, participated in training or pursued entrepreneurship in a 65-day period. https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/punishing_people_for_lack_of_results_one_mans_fight_against_new_unemployment_benefit_rules/10003995

Two of the three parties in the government has also started to talk about new schemes, such as the universal credit, comparable to the UK scheme that is already proving to impose excessive conditions on people receiving the benefit, and thus creating a considerable risk for high non-take-up, pushing more people into poverty.

All this without even waiting for the evaluation of the basic income experiment that will be done after the end of this year. This proves again that often more conditionality in benefits schemes is imposed, without clear scientific evidence and for purely ideological reasons.

EMIN Finland -network is taking part in BIEN Congress, 24-26th August at Tampere, Finland https://events.uta.fi/bien2018/

Read more:
– Kela: The Basic Income Experiment in Finland will continue until the end of 2018 http://www.kela.fi/web/en/news-archive/-/asset_publisher/lN08GY2nIrZo/content/contrary-to-reports-the-basic-income-experiment-in-finland-will-continue-until-the-end-of-2018?_101_INSTANCE_3a1vR0IztzeZ_redirect=%2Fweb%2Fen
– Honkanen & Pulkka: Tackling Poverty and Social Exclusion with Unconditional Money; Notes on the Finnish Basic Income Experiment https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/230917

On 24 April, we will launch our Bus Awareness Raising journey :  2 Buses, 32 Countries, 64 days, over 120 programmes and over a thousand volunteers are arranged to build awareness of the importance for the whole society of adequate, accessible and enabling Minimum Income Schemes. Follow our adventures on the blog www.eminbus.eu
 

The Peer Review on Coverage and Take Up took place on 13 and 14 March 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. The countries involved were Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Portugal, UK, Spain and Estonia.

The rich exchanges and debates were introduced by the following presentations:

• Presentation of EUROFOUND study on coverage and take-up by Anna Ludwinek
• Presentation of the Finnish efforts to simplify benefit systems and reduce non-take-up by Olli Kangas, KELA
• Efforts in Scotland to improve take-up through campaigns with ‘experience panel’ involving over 2000 people with experience of social assistance to help to make schemes more accessible
• Presentation of the Belgian case on take-up
• Presentations from Portugal, Bulgaria, Spain, UK and Croatia on their experiences with coverage and take-up and suggestions to overcome problems
• Video Walking the Tightrope of Benefit Sanctions from the Chesterfield Unite Community Branch.

The full report of this Peer Review will be posted on this blog soon!