Ireland and the Minimum Income Guarantee - Combat Poverty Agency

The 'Minimum Income' Recommendation
The minimum income Recommendation, together with a related
recommendation on the convergence of social protection systems
adopted at the same time, flow from the EC Charter of Fundamental
Social Rights for Workers (the Social Charter) agreed by all the
Member States except the UK in December 1989. (For a detailed
description of the way the recommendations evolved see Cousins
1993). More active social and employment policies were seen as the
necessary response to the rapid economic change which would
accompany closer integration and the Single Market. The Charter
itself, as finally adopted, deals mostly with the rights of workers and
contains only brief reference to social protection. However the
Council Resolution on social exclusion adopted in September 1989 did
recognise that combating social exclusion may be regarded as an
important part of the social dimension of the internal market, and
referred to various policy measures in this area. The Action
Programme drawn up by the Commission soon afterwards included
two initiatives which were to take the form of Recommendations, on a
"olides" 1 mC ° me gUarantee and on convergence of social protection
e ^ , reC ° v mi " endation s were drawn up by the Commission, consider
h r ^Ur ° pean Parliament, and adopted in somewhat diluted
Remmm H
C0 ° f MiniSterS in J une !992- * minimum income
Kecommendation urges that
Z b Zs S LZ S reC T iSS the baSiC W of a person to sufficient
^ZTZZZVZT 6 to Hv l in a manner compat *
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combat sorL/'l /
com P re^nsive and consistent drive to
^ ^ ^ S ^ r l ^ Asocial protection systems, as
ry, according to specified principles and guidelines.
(The fu„ te Xt of the Recommendation fe ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
right bJsed'on^esoec^forI 065 '
t0 * minimum level of resources is a
respect for human dignity. While that right is defined
vis-a-vis individuals, it is stated to be a right to access to sufficient
resources "individually or within the household in which he or she
lives". The guidelines for implementation include;
• fixing the amount of resources considered sufficient to meet basic
needs taking account of living standards and price levels in the
Member States concerned, and taking into account indicators such
as average disposable income, household consumption, and
where applicable the legal minimum wage;
• safeguarding an incentive to seek work for those whose age and
condition renders them fit for work;
• establishing arrangements for periodic review of the amounts,
based on these indicators;
• granting, to those whose resources are below the amounts thus
fixed, financial aid to bring them up to these amounts;
• simplifying as far as possible administrative procedures, and
organising as far as possible machinery for appeals to independent
third parties and ensuring easy access;
• implementing the measures laid down in the Recommendation
progressively in such a way that a report can be drawn up after
five years, taking appropriate measures to collect information
systematically on the actual access to these measures for the
people concerned, and carrying out a methodical evaluation of
their implementation and impact.
le with
A Recommendation is not legally binding on the Member States and
does not create rights for individuals, but does provide a basis on
which pressure can be put on governments. In the case of the minimum
income Recommendation the countries most affected are the
four southern Member states which do not have a national safety-net
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