Wales basic income: Drakeford hopes pilot will continue

First Minister Mark Drakeford has said he is hopeful Wales' basic income pilot will continue, as the scheme closes to new applicants this week.

About 500 people are expected to join the £20m programme, which offers £1,600 a month to 18 year olds leaving care.

Mr Drakeford said the "promise of the scheme is being delivered".

But the Welsh Conservatives have branded it a "socialist experiment" and said the money should be spent on care services instead.

The Welsh government launched the pilot a year ago to test how the payments could help care leavers as they transition into adulthood.

It offers unconditional monthly payments for two years to 18 year olds who have left long-term care in Wales since 1 July last year.

The BBC has been told 90% of over-18 care leavers who were eligible to apply have taken up the offer.

Mr Drakeford said he wanted to see the full evaluation "to make sure this is the most effective use of public investment".

When asked if he could see the scheme continuing, he said: "I am hopeful, because the things we're hearing so far tell us that the promise of the scheme is being delivered."

The pilot has attracted international attention for setting the monthly payment at a level higher than any other basic income programme globally.

But it has also proved controversial for allowing some asylum-seeking children to take part, while concerns have been raised about the way in which recipients have been using the money.

An evaluation of the scheme - led by researchers at Cardiff University - started in November 2022, but is not due to report its full findings until 2026.

Brandon said the scheme had given him financial stability since he turned 18 and left foster care last September.

He had been in care since the age of four, and living with his foster parent, Sally, in south Wales for 10 years.

He said he used the money on things like holidays abroad while putting aside savings for a deposit on a house.

Brandon said: "It has made a massive difference in my life. I wouldn't be able to do the things I do now without it."

Brandon met senior Welsh ministers at the Senedd on Tuesday to discuss how he had been using the basic income and said he would like to see the scheme continue beyond the pilot for the sake of his younger brothers, who are currently in care.

Sally said although Brandon had budgeted wisely with her support, there had been "some months when he hasn't wanted to save so much".

"And then he's got back on board with wanting to save for his future," she said.

With the evaluation of Welsh basic income pilot not expected for years yet, the jury is still out.

But evidence from other basic income schemes is building, including from the world's first scheme of its kind focused on care leavers in the United States.

A basic income for care leavers has been tried in Santa Clara, California, where 72 young adults received $1,000 (£739) for two years from July 2020.

In initial findings, the scheme reported improvements in employment, health, and wellbeing among the recipients. Surveys showed home ownership had increased from 0% to 3%, while full-time employment rose from 44% to 58%.

Now the county is planning a second basic income scheme, with a new group of care leavers receiving an increased monthly payment of $1,200 for two years.

"We've adopted some of the lessons we've learned from Wales and the efforts that they've gone through in this last year," said Melanie Jimenez Perez, the programme manager who runs the scheme.

Last year, Joe Chrisp, a policy researcher at the University of Bath, Mr Chrisp led a review of basic income experiments in high-income countries worldwide. The report said the evidence on employment outcomes was weak.

As ministers await the evaluation, the Welsh Conservatives said it remained sceptical of the pilot and the way that money is being spent by recipients.

Joel James, the party's spokesman for social partnership, said the £20m allocated for the scheme should have been spent on better mental health services for care leavers.

"I'm concerned this is a vulnerable cohort of society being used as a petri dish for basically, a socialist experiment, with no long-term plan for what's going to happen to them after that," he said.