Next steps (full document) | Post Automation Utopia

Summary

We recommend 13 steps over eighteen months, from January 2027 to June 2028, to take the draft plan to an approved final version. Together they form Phase 0 of the programme.

The first three months set up the team and its governance. The following year gathers the evidence, models the options and consults people worldwide, including hearings led by proxies for animals, plants and ecosystems. The last six months turn the results into final requirements and a baselined plan, and end with a decision by the Programme Board on whether to start Phase 1.

What the final plan must contain

The plan is final when it has all of the following:

A chosen option for each pillar, with the reasons and the evidence used.
Requirements confirmed by the people they come from, and by the proxies for non-human users.
A costed Phase 1, relative sizing for the later phases, and a financing strategy.
A legal route, covering the international compact and national law.
Institutions that have agreed to take part in Phase 1.
A baselined Plan, RAIDD, RACI and benefits map.
An independent assurance report.
Approval by the Programme Board.

Recommended steps

Each step has one accountable owner. Timing and effort are indicative, and effort is sized relatively: Small, Medium, Large or Very large. The same steps open the Plan, where their references are P0-01 to P0-13, with dependencies and the institutions that deliver them.

Ref	Step	Owner	When	Effort
NS-01	Mobilise the programme Confirm the Sponsor, Programme Board, Programme Director and PMO. Set up the Control register and approve the PID. Output: Sponsor, Programme Board and core team in place. PID approved. Control register in use.	Sponsor	Jan to Mar 2027	Medium
NS-02	Agree governance and decision rights Agree terms of reference for the Programme Board and Design Authority, tolerances, escalation routes and the baselined RACI. Output: Terms of reference, tolerances and RACI v1.0.	Programme Director	Jan to Mar 2027	Small
NS-03	Map stakeholders and agree the engagement strategy Map stakeholders worldwide and agree how each will be engaged, including the method for appointing human proxies for animals, plants and ecosystems. Output: Stakeholder map, engagement strategy and proxy method.	Engagement and Legitimacy Lead	Feb to May 2027	Medium
NS-04	Review the evidence Review the evidence on automation trends, basic income pilots, universal basic services, housing and ecological limits. Output: Evidence report for each pillar.	Design Authority Lead	Mar to Oct 2027	Large
NS-05	Model scenarios and fiscal options Build slow, central and fast automation scenarios and size the income floor and services options relative to each other. Output: Automation scenarios and relative fiscal sizing of the options.	Economic Security Lead	May 2027 to Jan 2028	Large
NS-06	Appraise the options for each pillar Appraise the options for each pillar, including the mix of cash and services, housing delivery models and ownership models for automated capital. Output: Options report with a recommended option for each pillar.	Design Authority Lead	Sep 2027 to Feb 2028	Large
NS-07	Consult worldwide Consult people across regions, sectors and generations, and hold proxy-led hearings for animals, plants and ecosystems. Output: Consultation report, including the proxy hearings.	Engagement and Legitimacy Lead	Sep 2027 to Mar 2028	Very large
NS-08	Finalise the requirements Update the User Requirements Document and Solution Requirements Document from the consultation and the options appraisal, and complete the traceability between them. Output: User Requirements Document v1.0 and Solution Requirements Document v1.0.	Design Authority Lead	Jan to Apr 2028	Medium
NS-09	Set out the legal and treaty pathway Analyse the legal routes: an international transition compact, national legislation and rights instruments. Output: Legal pathway paper and outline of the compact.	Legal and Policy Lead	Oct 2027 to Apr 2028	Medium
NS-10	Outline the financing strategy Set out how each phase could be financed, with relative sizing. Full costing follows in the Phase 1 business case. Output: Financing strategy outline.	Economic Security Lead	Jan to May 2028	Medium
NS-11	Baseline the plan, RAIDD and benefits map Bring the workstream plans together and baseline the Plan, RAIDD, RACI and benefits map for Phase 1. Output: Plan v1.0, RAIDD v1.0 and benefits map.	Programme Director	Mar to May 2028	Medium
NS-12	Run the independent assurance review Review the final plan independently against the quality criteria in the PID. Output: Assurance report with recommendations.	Benefits and Assurance Lead	May to Jun 2028	Small
NS-13	Approve the final plan and the Phase 1 mandate The Programme Board approves the final plan and authorises Phase 1. Output: Approved final plan and Phase 1 mandate.	Sponsor	Jun 2028	Small

First 90 days

Confirm the Sponsor and the institutions that will resource Phase 0.
Appoint the Programme Director and the PMO Lead, and put the Control register into use.
Convene the Programme Board and approve the PID.
Appoint the Design Authority Lead, the Benefits and Assurance Lead and the seven workstream leads.
Start the stakeholder map, and invite conservation science bodies and Indigenous peoples' organisations to help design the proxy method.
Commission the evidence review.

Decisions to take in Phase 0

The draft leaves these decisions open or proposed. The RAIDD holds the full decision log.

Ref	Decision	Decide in step	Decided by	Prepared by
D-07	The programme has five phases: Phase 0 Finalise the plan (2027 to mid 2028), Phase 1 Foundations and pilots (to 2032), Phase 2 Scale national floors (to 2040), Phase 3 Transition at scale (to 2055) and Phase 4 Stewardship.	P0-02	Programme Board	Programme Director
D-08	The programme uses the 23 roles in the RACI: six governance roles, seven workstream leads and ten types of delivery institution.	P0-02	Programme Board	PMO Lead
D-09	What mix of an unconditional cash floor and universal basic services gives income security.	P0-06	Programme Board	Design Authority Lead
D-10	Whether the programme is governed by a coalition of adopting states hosted by UN bodies, or by a new organisation.	P0-09	Programme Board	Legal and Policy Lead
D-11	How the proxies for non-human users are appointed, and how conflicts of interest are handled.	P0-03	Programme Board	Planetary Stewardship Lead
D-12	How the returns from automated capital are captured: tax, public ownership, voluntary commitments by firms, or a combination.	P0-06	Programme Board	Economic Security Lead

Risks to finishing the plan

No sponsor or funding yet. Phase 0 cannot start until sponsoring institutions commit resources (issue I-01).
Consultation that is too narrow. A final plan built on views from a few countries or groups would lack legitimacy (risk R-02).
Proxies that are not trusted. If the method for representing animals, plants and ecosystems is contested, their requirements will carry little weight (risk R-11).
Unsettled conflicts between requirements. Human and ecological requirements pull against each other in places, and the final plan has to say how each conflict is settled (risk R-16).
Pace of automation. If displacement speeds up during Phase 0, the plan may need interim measures before it is final (risk R-01).

The programme documents are listed below. The Control register holds the current version and link for each.

Document	What it holds
Draft plan	Outline of the transition plan and the evidence behind it.
Plan	The programme's steps, with timelines, effort, owners and dependencies.
RAIDD	Risks, assumptions, issues, decisions and dependencies, with owners.
RACI	Who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed, at high level and in detail.
PID	Project Initiation Document on a PRINCE2-style structure.
User Requirements Document	Requirements of people, animals, plants, ecosystems and the Earth system, each with a MoSCoW priority.
Solution Requirements Document	What the programme must put in place, with each requirement traced to the User Requirements Document.
Control	The document register: every programme document with its version, owner and link.