Commenting on the Welsh Government announcement Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Social Partnerships Joel James, MS said:
Whilst I am pleased to hear that the basic income pilot scheme is helping people like Lil, we have to be aware that a permanent rollout of this scheme is a complete fantasy, and I am deeply concerned that the Welsh Government is giving false hope to future care leavers.
The fact that 635 care leavers have accessed the scheme when the Welsh Government have budgeted for only 500 means that the pilot will now run £5Million over budget, and that is another £5Million that will not be spent on Education or Health, two areas which the Welsh Government is looking to make cuts because of budget mismanagement.
If rolled out on a permanent basis to every care leaver in Wales a basic income of £1,600 per month would be completely unaffordable. Assuming 500 care leavers entered the scheme each year, in just 10 years the Welsh Government would have spent £550 Million of taxpayer’s money just helping 5000 people.
I truly believe in helping care leavers have a full and rewarding life and helping them achieve their full potential; however, this pilot scheme is another Welsh Labour ploy of selling an unaffordable fantasy which they will then blame UK Government when they do not get the finances to pay for it.
