Analysis and action on living standards
This New Year Outlook looks back at some of the less-remarked developments of 2025, and forward to what they mean for the economy in 2026 and beyond.
This briefing note sets out recommendations to ensure the new Adult Social Care Negotiating Body can get off the ground quickly, while leaving scope to iterate and refine over time, so that it can deliver lasting improvements to the pay and conditions of England’s 1.5 million social care workers. Adult social care is a vital public service, yet this is not reflected in the pay and job conditions on offer to England’s 1.5 million social care workers. Workers often face low pay, insecure work and breaches of labour market rules, and these issues have contributed to a long-standing recruitment and retention crisis.
The Resolution Foundation is an independent think-tank dedicated to lifting living standards in the UK. We focus particularly on households with low and middle incomes; those on low pay or in precarious work; and those vulnerable to financial shocks.
Employment has fallen over the past two years and is substantially lower than it was before the pandemic. Perhaps surprisingly given its central place in policy debates, participation is essentially unchanged compared to pre-pandemic: rising inactivity due to ill-health has been offset by long-term declines in family-related inactivity.
When the Scottish Government introduced the Adult Disability Payment (ADP) in 2022 to replace Personal Independence Payment (PIP), it set out to do things differently. Resolution Foundation Research Director Lindsay Judge talks you through the learnings from recent benefit reforms in Scotland, joined by Louise Murphy and Ben Geiger.
The Resolution Foundation calculates the real Living Wage – a voluntary hourly pay rate that is based on what families need to get by. The current national rate is:
Explore our interactive housing indicators or read about our alternative estimate of UK employment.
Your weekend guide to top political-economy research from around the world
Resolution Ventures exists to back innovative start-ups seeking to change the world of work for the better, and early-stage ventures seeking to improve the prospects of low-to-middle income Britain.
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