BIRG co-authors report calling for UBI trial in Manchester

The Basic Income Research Group has co-authored a proposal for a Basic Income pilot in the Greater Manchester area and is calling on the Mayor, Andy Burnham, to throw his weight behind it.

The proposal is the work of BIRG, UBI Lab Manchester and the Common Sense Policy Group at Northumbria University and would initially target the region’s most vulnerable citizens: young people from deeply disadvantaged backgrounds who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness.

Mayor Andy Burnham has in the past supported the idea of Basic Income pilots and the authors are asking him to be bold in trying out schemes such as this one, which are economically and political feasible and have the potential to transform the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in society.

Matthew Johnson, Chair of BIRG and one of the authors of the report, said: “At a time in which ambition and vision is required more than ever, Greater Manchester stands out as a beacon of hope for progressive policy. Basic Income is a pragmatic, affordable, feasible and, most importantly, an overwhelmingly popular policy.”

The pilot would run over two years and would see each participant receive £1,600 per month. The cost for this would be £7.68m for 200 recipients, or £3.84m for 100 recipients.

The proposal outlines that the costs to run a pilot could be raised through a combination of central government support, public donations, reallocated service funding from the GMCA itself, and support from philanthropic organisations.

You can read the full report here.