BASIC INCOME PILOTS - LEARNING FROM SCOTLAND & FINLAND

Join our panel of experts as we discuss the role pilots play in advocating for Basic Income

Monday 27th July, 6.30-7.45pm (UK Time BST)

Basic Income has rocketed up the political agenda throughout the COVID-19 crisis as policy makers explore the idea as a potential response to shocks to the labour market and as a long term permement reform to social security systems around the world.

But Basic Income is not a new idea - in fact - countries have been experimenting with Basic Income and direct cash transfers for years. Evidence from experiments in the United States, Canada, Finland, India, Netherlands, Kenya, South Korea and elsewhere is mounting up about Basic Income's potential benefits. Calls for Basic Income pilots in the UK are rapidly accelerating with seven local authorties expressing their interest in carrying out experiments.

But how would pilots actually work? What can we actually learn from them? Are they a step towards policy change or a distraction from the wider goal of full implementation?

We will be discussing this and more on Monday 27th July, 6.30-7.45pm (BST) as part of the Basic Income Conversation's Summer Discussion Series with the following speakers:

Olli Kangas (Director of Equal Society Research at Academy of Finland and Professor of Practice at Department of Social Sciences at the University of Turku, Finland) Olli has one of the leading designers of Finland's 2 year experiment with Basic Income, the final results of which were announced in June this year. Olli oversaw the pilot at Kela (the Social Insurance Institution in Finland) as the scientific director of the experiment which saw 2000 unemployed Finns receive a Basic Income between 2016-2018. Olli will share some of the experiment's findings and offer his insight into the wider pilots debate.

Paul Vaughan (Head of Communities and Neighbourhoods at Fife Council and a member of the Scottish Citizen Basic Income Feasibility Study steering group) Paul has been a key member of Scotland's recent Feasibility Study exploring basic income pilots in Scotland, the report of which was released in June. The study was carried out by four local authorities including Paul's own Fife Council and was funded by the Scottish government. The report found pilots in Scotland are desirable but there are political barriers to implementation. Paul will share some of the study's findings and discuss next steps for pilots in Scotland.

Cleo Goodman (Co-Founder of the Basic Income Conversation and former Director of Citizens Basic Income Network Scotland) Cleo will be hosting the conversation with Olli & Paul. Before helping to set up the Basic Income Conversation, Cleo was Director of Citizens Basic Income Scotland has Scotland carried out its Feasibility Study into basic income pilots.

The format will be a conversation between our three speakers, hosted by Cleo, with you getting a chance to ask the panelists questions in the Q&A.

This is the second event in a summer research discussion series hosted by the Basic Income Conversation. There was a discussion on Basic Income and the Future of Work which you can watch back here and on Basic Income and Monetary Financing on Monday 10th August - do sign up to those too.

The event is free and you'll be sent zoom details upon registering.