Finland to press ahead with basic income plan

Finland has said the Nordic country’s trailblazing basic income experiment is going ahead as planned.

The confirmation comes after media reports that the trial has fallen flat.

Government social affairs official Miska Simanainen said the trial, in which about 2,000 unemployed people aged 25 to 58 are paid a taxfree €560 (£490) monthly income with no questions asked, “is proceeding as planned” with “no changes in direction”.

Finland became the first country in Europe to start such an income experiment on a national level in January 2017.

The €20 million programme, which seeks to reform Finland’s social security system, ends in December, and prime minister Juha Sipila’s centre-right government will assess initial results then.