Minimum Income Guarantee: report - a roadmap to dignity for all

Glossary

Bedroom Tax: if you are renting a council or housing association property and have a spare bedroom, your Housing Benefit or housing costs element of Universal Credit might be reduced up to 25%.

Before and After Housing Costs: one measure of income is before housing costs are deducted and the other is a measure after housing costs have been deducted (AHC). Housing costs include: rent (gross of housing benefit); water rates; mortgage interest payments; structural insurance premiums; ground rent and service charges.

Benefit Cap: the benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit you can get. It applies to most people aged 16 or over who have not reached State Pension age.

Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods: are payments that help towards the costs of being pregnant or looking after a child.

Coercive debt: a form of economic exploitation.

Cost of living crisis: the cost of living crisis is a term used to describe the effects of the rising cost of food and energy. The current crisis began in 2021.

Covid-19: Coronavirus Disease 2019 is the contagious disease that spread worldwide resulting in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Devolved/reserved powers: through devolution the Scottish Parliament has the ability to make decisions at a more local level. Scotland remains part of the United Kingdom but can make decisions on certain things, through powers, without needing approval from the UK Parliament. Reserved powers are the areas the Scottish Government cannot make decisions on, these are made in Westminster UK-wide instead.

Five-week wait: when moving onto Universal Credit people encounter having to wait a minimum of five weeks for their first payment.

Intersecting and compounding inequalities: the interaction and cumulative effects of multiple forms of discrimination affecting the daily lives of individuals.

Mitigation: reducing the harm caused by the policy, or making it less serious.

Parenting Penalty: a term used to describe the disadvantages low-income families encounter when in receipt of Universal Credit – like limited support for childcare costs.

PAYE: stands for ‘Pay As You Earn’ and is a government system of paying income tax and national insurance contributions across the UK.

Poverty: defines households that have less than median income. The most commonly used poverty line is 60% of median income, but households with incomes below 50% of median income are classed as being in deep poverty, and those with incomes of below 40% of median income are living in very deep poverty.

Priority Families: six family compositions identified by the Scottish Government which are at a higher risk of poverty due to specific structural and societal challenges they face. They are prioritised in policies designed to reduce poverty. They are: lone-parent families, minority ethnic families, families with a disabled adult or child, families with a younger mother (under 25 years old), families with a child under one year old, larger families (with three or more children).

real Living Wage: this is a voluntary wage rate, based on the real cost of living, paid by over 15,000 UK businesses.

Sanctions: a benefit sanction can reduce or stop your benefit payments if you don’t follow certain rules or perform certain activities that you agreed to when you started receiving your benefits.

Social cohesion: collective traits and behaviours characterised by positive social relations, a sense of identification or belonging, and an orientation towards the common good.

Social contract: is an agreement between state and citizens, voters pay in through taxation to a collective pot on the understanding that government spends it effectively to provide a safety net and enable people to thrive.

Third-Party deductions: are payments that are taken directly from your benefits to pay for things like bills, rent arrears, unpaid rates, and child maintenance.

Transition to net-zero: means no longer adding to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Scotland is committed to reaching net-zero by 2045, the UK Government has set a target of 2050.

Two-child limit: restricts support in Universal Credit and Tax Credits to two children in a family. It leaves families without means-tested support for their third and subsequent children.

Universal Basic Services: the provision of sufficient public services, as can be afforded from a reasonable tax on incomes, to enable every citizen’s safety, opportunity, and participation.

Universal Credit: a means-tested benefit delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions. People may be able to get it if they are on a low-income, out of work or cannot work to help with living costs.

Wellbeing economy: empowers communities to take a greater stake in the economy, with more wealth generated, circulated and retained within local communities, while protecting and investing in the natural environment for generations to come.