This is the moment for Universal Basic Income – here’s how it could work

Even a fairly meagre UBI scheme would provide a much stronger and more socially just safety net.

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 30: In this photo illustration, Scottish bank notes are placed on a table on January 30, 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland. The Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney, said yesterday during a speech in Edinburgh, that an independent Scotland would need to give up some power to make a currency union with the rest of the UK work. (Photo Illustration by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

If the forecasters are right we are facing a jobs massacre. Unemployment is predicted to soar this autumn, and the only question is by how much (the Office for Budget Responsibility expects joblessness to triple from 3.9 per cent to 12 per cent). Once the Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s furlough scheme ends in October, many businesses will be unviable. The Job Retention Bonus, which offers £1,000 to employers for every worker retained until January, will only move the cliff edge, even if it works.

Just as in the 1930s, politicians are approaching a crunch point. There is a benefit system, but with 12 per cent unemployment it likely would not sustain demand. Extending the furlough scheme indefinitely would consume public finances needed to rebuild the economy. Even extending it sectorally, as Labour has argued, doesn’t solve the underlying problem, which is that to survive in a post-Covid-19 world we need a different economic structure.