Why Don’t We Just… answer our mental health crisis with free money?

The current crop of young people aged 14 to 24 may be the most vulnerable of all since the Second World War. Their mental health has been affected by a global financial crisis, a decade of austerity and now the Covid pandemic. For young people in the north, the position is especially acute. Decades of deindustrialisation, failure to invest in infrastructure and wholesale cuts to public services mean that pathways out of poverty, inequality and abusive relationships have been cut off. Now, more than ever, young people are dependent. Our research suggests that the answer to this problem is extremely simple: give people free money.