Briefings
Resolution Foundation analysis of the 2013 Budget
Date: 8 April 2013
Author: Vidhya Alakeson, Alex Hurrell & Matthew Whittaker
The Chancellor’s fourth Budget was a relatively quiet affair. While pre-announced changes mean that millions of households will face further reductions in benefit and tax credit receipts from April, the latest financial statement said nothing new about welfare cuts (though it confirmed that departmental spending is set to be tightened still further) and was instead more noticeable for some modest giveaways. Some are broad-based but small, from the latest increase in the income tax personal allowance to reductions in fuel and beer duties; others are more targeted, including a new scheme designed to boost homeownership and a new focus on childcare. In this note, we consider some of key announcements affecting households.
Will future tax cuts reach struggling working households
31 March 2013
File type: pdf | Size: 784.4 KB
Will future tax cuts reach struggling working households?
Date: 2 April 2013
Author: Donald Hirsch
All political parties today say they want to help working people on low to middle incomes who struggle to make ends meet. This briefing looks at how exactly tax cuts interact with Universal Credit and quantifies how little low to middle income working households will keep from a higher personal allowance or a 10p tax rate under UC. It also suggests a simple way in which the Government could ensure that the benefits of tax cuts do flow through to the pockets of the three million taxpayers who claim UC. Any party proposing tax cuts that does not adopt this or an equivalent policy cannot claim to be targeting low to middle income households by cutting taxes.
Trends in wages and incomes: 2003-2008
Date: 21 September 2012
Author: Alex Hurrell
Recent Resolution Foundation research has drawn attention to the fact that wages and household incomes had stagnated even before the 2008 recession hit. Prior to the crash the economy was growing steadily, with real GDP per capita growth of 7.0 per cent between 2003 and 2008, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 1.4 per cent.1 Yet the benefits of this relatively strong economic performance did not filter down to the average worker
Up-skilling the middle
Date: 4 July 2012
Author: Professor Anna Vignoles
Professor Anna Vignoles looks at skills policy in her report to the Commission on Living Standards.
She examines what skills policy can do to help those on low to middle incomes boost their earnings potential. The paper highlights that those in the low to middle income group generally hold low and intermediate skills, which are not in demand in the current labour market. She examines why this is the case and explores which policy solutions would bring about future change.
Life on a low income
Date: 5 April 2012
Author: Katherine Green
In April 2011 Resolution Foundation started following 7 low to middle income families across England to track their financial and economic position and how their lives changed over the course of 12 months.
Detailed post-Budget analysis
Date: 25 March 2012
Author: Matthew Whittaker
Detailed analysis of the 2012 Budget by the Resolution Foundation.
The Changing Shape of the UK Job Market and its Implications for the Bottom Half of Earners
Date: 1 March 2012
Author: Craig Holmes and Ken Mayhew
Oxford academics Craig Holmes and Professor Ken Mayhew, investigate the idea that in recent years the UK labour market has split into high-wage "lovely" jobs and low-wage "lousy" jobs, while jobs in the middle have disappeared. They find that while many middle level ‘routine’ occupations such as process operators in industrial plants have indeed disappeared, jobs on middle pay do still exist – but are now more likely to be given higher status titles such as ‘manager’.
2012 Personal Allowance Tax Changes
Date: 27 December 2011
Author: Matthew Whittaker
The income tax personal allowance is set to increase to £8,105 in April 2012, rather than the £7,900 it would have been if increased in line with September’s RPI. But small changes across tax credits mean losses for many low to middle income households.
Read our analysis of the changes to the personal allowance and tax credits due in April 2012.
On your marks: Measuring the school readiness of children in low-to-middle income families
Date: 14 December 2011
Author: Professor Jane Waldfogel & Elizabeth Washbrook
The extent to which children start school ready and able to learn can have a long-term impact on their likelihood of success in education and employment. It is well known that children from the poorest backgrounds are already falling behind their more affluent peers at the start of school. But little is known about the school readiness of children from low to middle income families.
Renting in the dark
Date: 8 December 2011
Author: Louisa Darian
Tenants are being let down by an unregulated lettings market, with significant upfront costs, variable fees and a lack of transparency around charges.
Unlike estate agents, letting agents are unregulated and under no compulsion to hold membership of an ombudsman service, leaving dissatisfied tenants with no access to redress.
2012 2013 2020 activity rate Anna Vignoles April arrears Audit autumn statement balance benefit system benefits borrowing Britain budget budget 2011 budget response business case business impact cchpr child outcomes childcare Clive Cowdery Commission Commission on Living Standards conditionality cost of living wage council tax council tax benefit creditworthy david willetts Debt debt forgivenes debt target degree demographics discussion paper distribution donal hirsch earnings economic economy education election elizabeth washbrook emergency budget employment employment rate evidence expert group families family female employment finance financial advice financial capability financial health financial services financial services industry forbearance Gavin Kelly GDP gearing generation rent government Green Paper gregg growth growth without gain growth. niesr HM Treasury consultation holmes hourglass House of Commons House of Lords household debt household income Housing IFS in-work income inequality institutional investment interest rates international James Plunkett jane waldfogel jobs jobs gap John Van Reenen jonathan portes labour market labour share lane kenworthy lee savage letting agents Liam Wren-Lewis living standards living wage LMIs long-term care Louisa Darian low earner constituencies Low earners low earners audit low income low pay Low Pay Britain low pay threshold low to middle income low wages low-to-middle earners machin macro economic matthew pennycook Matthew Whittaker mayhew Mike Brewer minimum wage missing million missing out mobility mortgages mothers MPs mum netmums non-employment rate OECD older on your marks Parliamentary briefing part time Pensions Bill Pensions White Paper personal allowance peter williams plan c polarisation Policy Press polling population poverty pre-budget report private rented sector productivity projections property assets public sector deficit recession reform rent renting Resolution Foundation Resolution Foundation briefing response routine jobs sanctions sector share shelter skills social social care market social mobility social mobility foundation Sophia Parker squeezed Squeezed Britain Squeezed Middle submission survey sutton trust tax tax credits tax cuts tenure The squeezed middle think tank think-tank Thoresen Review Transact Treasury Select Committee unemployment Universal Credit Vidhya Alakeson wage bill wage share wages welfare reform welfare state White Paper who gains from growth women Work Work and Pensions Select Committee work incentives work-life workers workforce
Useful links
Twitter Feed
Resolution Foundation
23 Savile Row, London, W1S 2ET
E: info@resolutionfoundation.org
T: 020 3372 2960
F: 020 3372 2999
For out of hours enquiries
M: 07443 042 722 / 07792 154 707
Company Number 5588883
Charity Number 1114839
© The Resolution Foundation 2012
