Citizen’s Income newsletter A Citizen’s Income is an unconditional, non-withdrawable income payable to each individual as a right of citizenship 2011, issue 3 Contents Editorial Page 1 Main articles: The Citizen’s Income Trust’s response to the Department for Work and Pensions’ consultation paper A State Pension for the 21 st Century Page 1 The Big Society and Citizen’s Income, by Bill Jordan Page 6 News Page 9 Reviews Page 10 Molly Scott Cato, Green Economics: An Introduction to Theory, Policy and Practice Guy Standing, The Precariat: The new dangerous class Hugh Bochel (ed.), The Conservative Party and Social Policy Alan Walker et al (eds), Fighting Poverty, Inequality and Injustice: A manifesto inspired by Peter Townsend Gary Gary A. Berg, Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality Tindara Addabbo et al (eds), Gender Inequalities, Households and the Production of Well-Being in Modern Europe Viewpoint: A Perspective from Shanghai, by Tim Hawkins Page 13 The BIEN Congress 2012: Citizen’s Income Trust bursaries Page 16 Editorial These are interesting times for debate on the reform of the tax and benefits system. By the time you read this Newsletter the Government’s consultation period on the future of the state pension will have ended and we shall be awaiting the outcome. In our submission (reprinted below) we commented on the second option for reform floated in the consultation paper: a single-tier flat rate pension based on the pensioner’s contribution record. We wrote: The second option without a contribution record condition would meet the principles of simplicity and personal responsibility. It would be fair in the sense that every individual would be treated in the same way. Those few people who might be thought not to have contributed to society would in any case be receiving a means-tested pension under the current system, so there would be little if any additional cost to including them in a new single tier State pension. Another of today’s political themes continues to be the Big Society, and in this edition Bill Jordan asks important questions about its character and asks how advocates of a Citizen’s Income should relate to some of the ways in which our society might evolve. Frequently in the news is the future of the National Health Service. Health policy is not a field normally discussed in these pages. However, the National Health Service is a universal benefit: unconditional, nonwithdrawable, and a right of citizenship. We would welcome discussion on how the debate on the future of the health service and the debate on the future of the tax and benefits system might inform each other. Main articles The Citizen’s Income Trust’s response to the Department for Work and Pensions’ consultation paper A State Pension for the 21 st Century, April 2011, Cm 8053. The Government has published a consultation paper on the reform of the State pension system, and the Citizen’s Income Trust has submitted a response. The consultation paper can be read at www.dwp.gov.uk/state-pension-21st-century Here we print excerpts from the report (in italics), the consultation questions (in bold type), and our responses to those questions (in plain type). Guiding principles. In terms of pension reform, we have four clear guiding principles: • personal responsibility – enabling individuals to take responsibility for meeting their retirement aspirations in the context of increased longevity; • fairness – ensuring an adequate level of support for the most vulnerable, ensuring everyone with a full Citizen’s Income Newsletter ISSN 1464-7354 Citizen’s Income Trust 37 Becquerel Court, West Parkside, London SE10 0QQ Tel: +44 (0) 20 8305 1222 Email: info@citizensincome.org Website: www.citizensincome.org Registered charity no. 328198 Director: Malcolm Torry Disclaimer: Views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Citizen’s Income Trust