Universal basic income: An idea whose time has come or just another mechanism to grease the wheels of capitalism?

Universal basic income (UBI) is a system where everyone in a community is given a regular fixed amount of money from government intended to meet basic needs and free from any conditionality. Such a system is cheap and easy to administer as there is no means testing or checks on conditionality. There are a growing number of trials across the world and increasing support for such a scheme in the UK. A decade of austerity policies in the UK followed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the views of some that UBI would not only address the issue of poverty and low-paid work but would serve as a response to growing automation in the workplace. It might also increase the bargaining power of workers who would be less worried about losing their job if they had the cushion of UBI.