Stupid Sanctions Vs Basic Income 1: Your Gran Dies

There is a website called A Selection of Especially Stupid Benefit Sanctions filled with stories of ways in which our broken benefits system hurts people. I thought it would be good to compare what would have happened with welfare replaced by Basic Income Guarantee.

Of course its not terribly exciting because basic income doesn't judge people or make mistakes.

Our Current Welfare System

What if we had basic income?

Your gran dies during the night. The next morning your partner calls the job centre and asks if you can come in the following day instead. The centre agrees, and you sign in the next day. Then you get a letter stating that you failed to sign in and would be sanctioned if you don’t reply within seven days. You reply, explaining the situation. The job centre gives you a six-week sanction for not replying.

Your gran dies during the night. You continue to receive your basic income