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Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life

Chris Rowe Orcid Logo

Legal Studies, Volume: 42, Issue: 1, Pages: 81 - 98

Swansea University Author: Chris Rowe Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1017/lst.2021.36

Abstract

As part of its response to Covid-19 the government paused the use of the ‘Minimum Income Floor’ (MIF), which restricts the Universal Credit (UC) entitlement of the self-employed. This paper places the MIF in the wider context of conditionality in the social security system and considers a judicial r...

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Published in: Legal Studies
ISSN: 0261-3875 1748-121X
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2022
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65921
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first_indexed 2024-03-27T11:57:15Z
last_indexed 2024-03-27T11:57:15Z
id cronfa65921
recordtype SURis
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spelling v2 65921 2024-03-27 Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life 8d3ce3ec594158d0cf904d8b481cf70b 0000-0001-5979-2784 Chris Rowe Chris Rowe true false 2024-03-27 HRCL As part of its response to Covid-19 the government paused the use of the ‘Minimum Income Floor’ (MIF), which restricts the Universal Credit (UC) entitlement of the self-employed. This paper places the MIF in the wider context of conditionality in the social security system and considers a judicial review which claimed that the MIF was discriminatory. The paper focuses on how UC affects the availability of real choices for low-income citizens to limit or escape from wage labour, with two implications of the move to UC highlighted. First, the overlooked labour decommodifying aspect of tax credits, which provided a minimum income guarantee and a genuine alternative to wage labour for people who self-designated as ‘self-employed’, even if their earnings were minimal or non-existent, has been removed. Secondly, UC has in some respects improved the position of low-paid wage labourers in ‘mini-jobs’, who are not subject to conditionality once they work for the equivalent of approximately nine hours a week on the minimum wage. Journal Article Legal Studies 42 1 81 98 Cambridge University Press (CUP) 0261-3875 1748-121X social security law, social rights, discrimination, Universal Credit, basic income 1 3 2022 2022-03-01 10.1017/lst.2021.36 COLLEGE NANME Hillary Rodham Clinton Law School COLLEGE CODE HRCL Swansea University Not Required 2024-07-09T10:54:22.8780733 2024-03-27T11:50:55.6548893 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law Chris Rowe 0000-0001-5979-2784 1
title Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life
spellingShingle Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life
Chris Rowe
title_short Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life
title_full Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life
title_fullStr Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life
title_full_unstemmed Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life
title_sort Self-employed surfers, universal credit and the minimally decent life
author_id_str_mv 8d3ce3ec594158d0cf904d8b481cf70b
author_id_fullname_str_mv 8d3ce3ec594158d0cf904d8b481cf70b_***_Chris Rowe
author Chris Rowe
author2 Chris Rowe
format Journal article
container_title Legal Studies
container_volume 42
container_issue 1
container_start_page 81
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
issn 0261-3875
1748-121X
doi_str_mv 10.1017/lst.2021.36
publisher Cambridge University Press (CUP)
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law
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description As part of its response to Covid-19 the government paused the use of the ‘Minimum Income Floor’ (MIF), which restricts the Universal Credit (UC) entitlement of the self-employed. This paper places the MIF in the wider context of conditionality in the social security system and considers a judicial review which claimed that the MIF was discriminatory. The paper focuses on how UC affects the availability of real choices for low-income citizens to limit or escape from wage labour, with two implications of the move to UC highlighted. First, the overlooked labour decommodifying aspect of tax credits, which provided a minimum income guarantee and a genuine alternative to wage labour for people who self-designated as ‘self-employed’, even if their earnings were minimal or non-existent, has been removed. Secondly, UC has in some respects improved the position of low-paid wage labourers in ‘mini-jobs’, who are not subject to conditionality once they work for the equivalent of approximately nine hours a week on the minimum wage.
published_date 2022-03-01T10:54:22Z
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