UBI would cut poverty across the board – the most extensive study proves.

A new universal basic income model could cut poverty by more than half at no net cost, reducing it to its lowest level for 60 years, according to a report co-authored by a University of York academic. On the 80th anniversary of the historic Beveridge Report, the new research by the Basic Income Conversation and Compass represents the most substantive attempt yet to assess the impact of a basic income (UBI) scheme and the greater income security it provides.

The fiscally neutral scheme involves no additional calls on the public finances and no net increase in taxation: the cost of the extra payments would be exactly offset by the extra revenue from internal changes in tax rates and National Insurance Contributions, the report’s authors say.

Changes Under the model, compared to the current system:

Child poverty falls by more than a half to 12.5%, taking it to below the level of 14.0% in 1977.

Working-age poverty falls by just over a quarter, from 19.4% to 14.9%.

Pensioner poverty falls by 54%, from 16.7% to 7.7%. This takes the level of pensioner poverty to well below the lowest post-1961 rate of 14% in the early 1980s.

The Gini coefficient – a summary measure of inequality – falls by 12.5%, taking it back towards the peak equality achieved in the 1970s.

The gains are concentrated among the poorest and the losses among higher-income groups.