Basic Income and Caring: Why aren’t all caregivers interested in Basic Income? Áine Uí Ghiollagain President FEFAF, European Federation of Unpaid Parent and Carer NGOs

About FEFAF Federation of EU parent & carer NGOs + SPAF (Switzerland) Cúram (Irish NGO) and 19 NGOs in 17 European countries Founded in 1983 Main focus: recognition for unpaid caregivers Promote choice, positive outcomes

FEFAF networks Civil Society Contact Group Social Platform European Women’s Lobby FEFAF Cúram and national/regional NGOs

Case in favour Financial benefit to support parents and carers Flexibility for caregivers Support for voluntary activity Anti-poverty measure without stigma Seen as ‘left-wing’ proposal Remove motivation for paid employment, especially for women caregivers Higher marginal tax rates (self-employed) Based on adults, not household Fall in labour supply, skills Case against

Current situation of Caregivers Work is unrecognised, unsupported At higher risk of poverty than general population, especially as they age or in the case of divorce Despite Beijing Platform for Action & human rights conventions, recognition and support has not been implemented Low status of work, unconnected to outcomes

Women at risk of poverty The Life of Women and Men in Europe: a statistical portrait Theme: Population and social conditions Collection: Statistical books Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, ORTAL&p_product_code=KS

Current Prevailing Attitudes work := paid work Economically inactive persons are characterised by not having a job and either not actively looking for a job or not immediately available for a job. People outside the labour force: the downward trend continues Omar Hardarson (Eurostat) Statistics in focus POPULATION AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 122/ uct_code=KS-SF

Lisbon Agenda 60% of women ‘active’ childcare for at least 90% of children 3- school age and 33% of children 0-3 by 2010

Definition of ‘ Active ’ 1 hour per week in paid employment

Unpaid work 30%-50% of GDP

Time-Use Survey 2005 (Ireland) PES*‘home duties’‘employed’ Care27:5611:32 Employment/study1:0233:00 Household work34:3414:06 Total63:3258:38 *PES: principal economic status Information in table compiled from Tables B.1 and B.2, p TIME-USE IN IRELAND 2005: SURVEY REPORT F. MCGINNITY et al. ESRI: 2005 Available from

Annual Value of goods & services produced by unpaid caregiver €23, Professor Gabriel Kiely University College Dublin Family Studies Centre, 2004

Access to Carers’ support 24 hours per day 7 days a week 52 weeks a year AND if low household income, €214 per week

On balance, Caregivers would be better off under a system of Basic Income than the current system So what can be done by proponents of systems of Basic Income to turn this around?

Social Platform Platform of EU federation NGOs in the social sphere, including EWL, ILGA Europe, EAPN, Eurochild, EURAG, Inclusion Common positions including support for Basic Income and recognition for unpaid caregivers and volunteers

Áine Uí Ghiollagáin President FEFAF European Federation of Unpaid Parent and Carer NGOs 76, av. Père Damien B-1150 Bruxelles Belgique tel./fax