Benefits are on blast at the moment, but one professor thinks a universal basic income may be cheaper. 

Data from the Ministry of Social Development shows that 109,000 kiwis on the Jobseeker benefit have received it for at least a year. 

Tim Hazledine, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Auckland, suggests we scrap the welfare system altogether, replacing it with a universal basic income. 

He told Kerre Woodham that currently, the amount the government spends on various social handouts and programmes is more than what a universal income of $300 a week would cost. 

He said that giving every adult $600 a fortnight regardless of their financial earnings is fiscally neutral, and would give them certainty and assurance. 

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