Universal basic services (UBS) is an idea of a form of

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

in which all citizens or residents of a community, region, or country receive unconditional access to a range of free, basic,

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

s, funded by taxpayers and provided collectively by a government or public institution. The basic services commonly include: *Education *Health care *Housing *Essential food *Water and sanitation *Buses and trains *Basic internet *Legal aid and representation Further services, where there are low or zero marginal costs for adding further users are: *Electricity and heating *Retail banking *Public broadcast media

History

Universal Basic Services is a development of the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...

model. The term appeared in 2017 in press and the first modelling in a report from University College London (UCL)'s Institute for Global Prosperity. The

British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

welcomed the report and announced in 2018 that UBS would be incorporated into the party's platform.

UBS inclusion rationale

Universal Basic Services are provided on the basis that they are necessary to sustain and enable each citizen's material safety, opportunity to contribute, or participate in the decision-making processes of their community, region or country, even if they lack any financial income. The UBS model extends the notion of a

social safety net A social safety net (SSN) consists of non-contributory assistance existing to improve lives of vulnerable families and individuals experiencing poverty and destitution. Examples of SSNs are previously-contributory social pensions, in-kind and foo ...

to include those elements necessary to fulfil a larger role in society. To substantiate inclusion in a UBS provision services meet at least one of these conditions: * necessary to maintain the individual's or the society's material safety * necessary to enable the individual's personal effort to use their skills and abilities to contribute to their society, either for remuneration or not * necessary to allow the individual to participate in the political system(s) within which they live The following table represents rationales used for the inclusion of certain services in a UBS definition: The specific content of any set of UBS varies according to the

resources ''Resource'' refers to all the materials available in our environment which are Technology, technologically accessible, Economics, economically feasible and Culture, culturally Sustainability, sustainable and help us to satisfy our needs and want ...

available to the society and their political definitions of what constitutes ''basic'' provision - see UBS Inclusion Rationale. Many societies already provide some elements of UBS, such as

public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

and

public healthcare Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are se ...

services.

Service definitions and examples

Shelter

Homeless shelter Homeless shelters are a type of service and total institution that provides temporary residence for homelessness, homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather whi ...

Housing First Housing First is a policy that offers unconditional, permanent housing as quickly as possible to homeless people, and other supportive services afterward. It was first discussed in the 1990s, and in the following decades became government policy ...

Public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

Right to housing The right to housing (occasionally right to shelter) is the economic, social and cultural right to adequate house, housing and shelter (building), shelter. It is recognized in some Economic, social and cultural rights#National constitutions, nat ...

Public housing are built to provide affordable or subsidized housing for lower income earners. This is inline with rationale behind the UBS, to sustain social inclusion.

UN-Habitat The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is the United Nations programme for human settlements and sustainable urban development. It was established in 1977 as an outcome of the first United Nations Conference on Human Settleme ...

estimate that approximately 40% of the total world population will lack access to affordable housing by 2030.

Sustenance

Food bank A food bank or food pantry is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distrib ...

Food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

Human right to water and sanitation The human right to water and sanitation (HRWS) is a principle stating that clean drinking water and sanitation are a universal human right because of their high importance in sustaining every person's life. It was recognized as a human right ...

Right to food The right to food, and its variations, is a human right protecting the right of people to feed themselves in dignity, implying that sufficient food is available, that people have the means to access it, and that it adequately meets the individua ...

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal government program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income persons to help them maintai ...

Soup kitchen A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center is a place where food is offered to Hunger, hungry and homeless people, usually for no price, cost, or sometimes at a below-market price (such as coin Donation, donations). Frequently located in Low i ...

Health and care

Services that support health, and services which provide for care of

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

elderly Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

and others. *

Publicly funded health care Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are se ...

Right to health The right to health is the economic, social and cultural economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international a ...

Universal health care Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized a ...

In ''The Case for Universal Basic Services'' Coote and Percy argue for the expansion of the Care service definition to include

childcare Child care, also known as day care, is the care and supervision of one or more children, typically ranging from three months to 18 years old. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(ren), childcare typica ...

Education

Schooling and training. *

Free education Free education is education funded through government spending or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. Primary school and other comprehensive or compulsory education is free in most countries (often not including primary textboo ...

Public education A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

Right to education The right to education has been recognized as a human rights, human right in a number of international conventions, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which recognizes a right to free education, free, pr ...

Universal access to education Universal access to education is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, race (human categorization), race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ethnic background or physical and mental disab ...

Transport

Local transport to access other services, shops and employment. *

Free public transport Free public transport, often called fare-free public transit or zero-fare public transport, is public transport which is fully funded by means other than collecting fares from passengers. It may be funded by national, regional or local governme ...

Information

Access to communications that enable participation in society as well as access to the other services. * Freedom of information *

Municipal wireless network A municipal wireless network is a citywide wireless network. This usually works by providing municipal broadband via Wi-Fi to large parts or all of a municipal area by deploying a wireless mesh network. The typical deployment design uses hundreds ...

Public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

Right to Internet access The right to Internet access, also known as the right to broadband or freedom to connect, is the view that all people must be able to access the Internet in order to exercise and enjoy their rights to freedom of expression and opinion and other ...

Legal

The Legal category UBS is a broad definition to include safety services, legal assistance and the apparatus necessary to sustain the society's

legal system A legal system is a set of legal norms and institutions and processes by which those norms are applied, often within a particular jurisdiction or community. It may also be referred to as a legal order. The comparative study of legal systems is th ...

and

political system In political science, a political system means the form of Political organisation, political organization that can be observed, recognised or otherwise declared by a society or state (polity), state. It defines the process for making official gov ...

. The courts, assemblies, political salaries, civil services and other aspects of the structure of the society are included in the definition of Legal UBS. *

Emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services, pre-hospital care or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to d ...

Policing The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

Firefighting Firefighting is a profession aimed at controlling and extinguishing fire. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter or fireman. Firefighters typically undergo a high degree of technical training. This involves structural fir ...

Legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right ...

Courts A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. Courts gene ...

Right to counsel In criminal law, the right to counsel means a defendant has a legal right to have the assistance of counsel (i.e., lawyers) and, if the defendant cannot afford a lawyer, requires that the government appoint one or pay the defendant's legal ex ...

* Social services agencies

Local service definitions

UBS are designed and delivered by governments and institutions which tailor the exact content of the services to meet the particular circumstances of the local community.

Funding

In the standardised definition of UBS the cost of the services is funded by revenues derived from

income taxes An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

, which are

hypothecated Hypothec (; , , from Lat. ''hypotheca'', from Gk. : hypothēkē), sometimes tacit hypothec, is a term used in civil law systems (e.g. the law of most of Continental Europe) to refer to a registered real security of a creditor over real estate ...

to the delivery of the UBS. Most UBS services in societies around the world today are funded out of general

government revenue Government revenue or national revenue is money received by a government from Tax revenue, taxes and Non-tax revenue, non-tax sources to enable it, assuming full resource employment, to undertake non-inflationary public expenditure. Government re ...

s, such as

publicly funded healthcare Publicly funded healthcare is a form of health care financing designed to meet the cost of all or most healthcare needs from a publicly managed fund. Usually this is under some form of democratic accountability, the right of access to which are se ...

Model costing

In October 2017 the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London (UCL) produced a report modelling the cost of UBS for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The report modelled funding the UBS services (£42.16Bn) from a reduction in the

Personal Tax Allowance Personal may refer to: Aspects of persons' respective individualities * Privacy * Personality * Personal, personal advertisement, variety of classified advertisement used to find romance or friendship Companies * Personal, Inc., a Washington, ...

Cost justifications for UBS

The cost of extending public services as universal entitlements is justified through some combination of the following savings: * increased productivity through greater support for deeper specialisation * substitution of cash benefits * enhanced efficiency of delivery resulting from local design and demand management * long term savings in labour costs as UBS substitute for increases in pay

Labour market effects

The two most common effects on operagraphics (

labour market Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labou ...

s) are: # increased flexibility through enhanced access to job opportunities (e.g. transport access) # reduced upward pressure on labour rates through the substitution of direct financial cost ("social wage") ## The 2017 UCL report shows potential cost replacement of 80% of average pay for the lowest income decile

Environmental benefits

UBS can lead to lower emissions, particularly through greater use of public transport.

Criticisms and conditions

* UBS may be an inefficient method to cover the personal and necessarily individual living costs associated with needs such as toiletries, requiring any UBS to be supplemented by some form of

cash transfers A cash transfer is a direct transfer payment of money to an eligible person. Cash transfers are either unconditional cash transfers or conditional cash transfers. They may be provided by organisations funded by private donors, or a local or re ...

or credit system that can be used by citizens to satisfy personally specific living costs. This component could be delivered as a form of

basic income Universal basic income (UBI) is a social welfare proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a minimum income in the form of an unconditional transfer payment, i.e., without a means test or need to perform Work (hu ...

, as modelled in the UCL report, albeit at the low end of the scale within which basic income distributions are commonly proposed.

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , last1=Coote , first1=Anna , last2=Kasliwal , first2=Pritika , last3=Percy , first3=Andrew , title=Universal Basic Services: Theory and Practice - A literature review , date=May 16, 2019 , publisher=

UCL Institute for Global Prosperity The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, also known as The Bartlett, is the academic centre for the study of the built environment at University College London (UCL), United Kingdom. It is home to thirteen departments, with specialisms incl ...

, url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/publications/2022/feb/universal-basic-services-theory-and-practice-literature-review-2019 Employment compensation Labor relations Public administration Public services Social security Universalism Welfare state