Basic Income: an idea whose time has come?

There is no single silver bullet policy to create a Good Society – but basic income is the closest there is. 

It opens up some big questions: what is a good society and what is a good life; how much should we work and what kind of work should we do; what else should we do; and, how we can be fully human?

READ OUR NEW REPORT

The gap between the rich and poor is widening, children go to school hungry and dirty, and – incredibly – life expectancy rates are falling. More people are in work, but work doesn’t pay and the so-called ‘social security’ system provides nothing of the sort.

All these reasons and more are why people are turning to Basic Income as an idea whose time has come. An unconditional guaranteed weekly payment to everyone – it is as transformative as ideas get.

Our welfare system humiliates the weakest in our society – dragooning them into work they would otherwise not do, for pay that won’t keep their heads above water. It is simply the most horrendous of indignities.

So, today we launch our new report Basic Income For All: from desirability to feasibility.

Authors Stewart Lansley and Howard Reed, with support from Friends Provident Foundation, have done the modelling and research to demonstrate how a Basic Income could be introduced right now, and how it would transform our economy and our society.

Their findings show how it would be possible to pay a weekly Basic Income to adults (up to 64) of £60, to adults over 65 of £175, and to children of £40.

Even at these modest rates, the proposed Basic Income scheme would be transformative.

It would:

• Pay, for example, a significant, no-questions-asked, £10,400 a year to a family of four
• Cut child poverty by more than a third and pensioner poverty by almost a third
• Narrow the inequality gap
• Strengthen the universal element of the benefits system.

For the first time, there would be a guaranteed income floor below which no individual would fall, and that would gradually rise over time.

Any post-Brexit (or indeed post-May) agenda has to deal with the economic, and therefore, social insecurities that have fostered the biggest disruption to our society since the Second World War.

You can download the report here and let us know your thoughts here.

If you become a member of Compass now, we will send you a hardcopy of the report as part of your welcome pack.

This also applies if you opt for the special offer of annual Compass membership with a free ticket to our event Leaving the 20th Century on Sat 6th April.

Please share this report widely. Thank you for supporting Compass. Our best, as ever,

The team at Compass