Should the government give everybody in the country a minimum income, regardless of their circumstances?

Advocates of a basic income argue that it would be a simple way to increase low incomes and, in contrast to current benefit systems, would not penalise people by withdrawing payments when they get work. They also argue it would also help society adjust to the effect of automation on jobs and allow people to be more creative and pursue interests. Critics say a basic income would be unaffordable at any meaningful level, could only take place with massive tax increases and argue it would undermine some people’s incentive to find work.

There are now basic income pilots under way in a number of cities and countries, after many decades of theoretical argument. Is this an idea whose time has come?

Photo: Nick Pearce, Institute for Policy Research, Bath Univeristy.

In association with

Panel

Torsten Bell is the director of the Resolution Foundation. Prior to this, he was Director of Policy for the Labour Party and worked in the Treasury, both as a special adviser and a civil servant.

Jonathan Derbyshire is Executive Comment Editor of the Financial Times.  He was previously Managing Editor of Prospect and before that Culture Editor of the New Statesman. He has also written for a number of other publications, including the Guardian, the Observer and the Times Literary Supplement. Follow him on Twitter: @jderbyshire

Louise Haagh is a reader in the Department of Politics, University of York. She is a world poverty, labour studies and social policy specialist working in the field of comparative labour market institutions, welfare regimes and the political economy of development. She is the editor of the academic journal Basic Income Studies and is elected co-chair of the executive committee of the Basic Income Earth Network.

Anthony Painter is director of the Action and Research Centre at the RSA where he oversees research, policy and practical innovation. He previously directed the Independent Review of the Police Federation and has also worked with Google, the BBC, the BMA, the Education and Training Foundation, the Association of Colleges and the Metropolitan Police. He is the author of three books, most recently Left Without a Future? Social Justice in Anxious Times.

Nick Pearce is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Bath Institute for Policy Research. He was formerly director of the Institute for Public Policy Research and head of the No10 Downing St Policy Unit. He has been a special adviser in the Home Office, Cabinet Office and Department for Education and Employment. He was chair of the advisory board to the UK Chief Scientist’s Foresight Programme and served on the Equalities Review and the Teaching & Learning 2020 Review.