General Election 2024· Tax· Welfare· Political parties and elections Growing for gold? Analysing the tax and spend package of the 2024 Labour Manifesto 14 June 2024 by Molly Broome and Nye Cominetti and Emily Fry and Tara Goatley and Charlie McCurdy and Simon Pittaway and Hannah Slaughter and James Smith and Lalitha Try …given that, since 2010, we’ve had Brexit, nine business secretaries, seven sets of fiscal rules, and almost annual changes to corporation tax. But the manifesto also includes a suite of… READ MORE
Welfare A cut to benefits would batter millions of households Liz Truss’s threats of a real-terms cut would ramp up inequality and hamper growth 10 October 2022 by Lalitha Try …former Brexit minister David Frost argued that people already feel “insecure going into the autumn”; the Wales secretary, Robert Buckland, argued that a “safety net is an important part of… READ MORE
Economy 2030· Welfare Beyond Beveridge Have social security shifts prepared us for economic change? Wednesday 19 January 2022 …And it faces new challenges, with Covid, Brexit and net zero – coupled with rapid demographic and technological change – set to reshape our economy in the 2020s. What changes… READ MORE
Universal Credit· Incomes· Living standards· Prices & consumption· Welfare The big squeeze Assessing the changes to family incomes over the next six months 26 September 2021 by Karl Handscomb …2014 and immediately after the Brexit referendum (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Inflation is set to erode the real value of earnings this winter and beyond Moreover, there are… READ MORE
Universal Credit· Household debt· Welfare The debts that divide us Flash findings from a survey of families claiming Universal Credit 7 February 2021 by Mike Brewer and Karl Handscomb …the pace of the living standards recovery – including whether we can move a post-Brexit and post-Covid UK onto a path of faster productivity growth – but its shape, including,… READ MORE
Social care· Living standards· Inequality & poverty· Welfare The child poverty crisis needs pushing up the agenda in Britain’s ‘Brexit’ election None of the main party manifestos will end child poverty 27 November 2019 by Laura Gardiner Both the main parties have learnt lessons from the 2017 election. The Conservatives have learnt not to scare the horses with big new policies. Their 2019 manifesto is very much… READ MORE
Living standards· Tax· Welfare· Political parties and elections The choice facing Britain: What the manifestos reveal Thursday 28 November 2019 …to tax and benefits, and their priorities for crime and climate change. And yes, of course, Brexit. What are the big-picture takeaways from each manifesto? How deliverable are the parties’… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty· Welfare The benefit freeze has ended, but erosion of the social security safety net continues Expected benefit uprating in April 2020 16 October 2019 by Adam Corlett …post-Brexit boost to living standards. Alternatively, the government might be forced to act by a recession. Whatever the cause of that recession, benefit increases would likely need to be an… READ MORE
Welfare Yellow jackets Top of the Charts 4 January 2019 …exceptional in most ways compared to the rest of Europe. But many polls suggest we don’t even win in the Euroscepticism stakes. In the year of the Brexit referendum, polling… READ MORE
Welfare Three steps to make it a happier new year for Universal Credit 18 December 2018 by Laura Gardiner …UC and brings many more middle-income families into the scheme. Conclusion While 2019 is set to be dominated by Brexit, Universal Credit will inevitably take the limelight at some point… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances· Welfare How to spend it: Autumn 2018 Budget response 30 October 2018 by Matthew Whittaker …end, austerity. There will be tougher choices for Chancellors in the years ahead, however. Brexit must be delivered smoothly, public spending will remain tight, forecasts may not always be so… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Welfare Despite ‘the end of austerity’, April promises another deep benefit cut 17 October 2018 by Adam Corlett …a limited impact in its first two years. But with the Brexit vote and resultant price increases, CPI inflation reached 3 per cent in September 2017. Normally, that September figure… READ MORE
Welfare Delaying rollout of Universal Credit is a sensible step – but fundamental reforms are still needed 16 October 2018 by David Finch …that vote in the near future, not least given wider Brexit politics, without some element of reform looked very difficult – which is where the new package of measures comes… READ MORE
Welfare The have-docs vs. the have-yachts, and good news for rich idiots Top of the Charts 12 October 2018 …like the 1990s all over again. Even Noel Gallagher seems to have re-emerged from some Brit-pop time machine and Brexit definitely has a mid-90s vibe to it. The only reassurance… READ MORE
Childcare· Inequality & poverty· Welfare A history lesson wouldn’t hurt – at least when it comes to child poverty 24 July 2018 by Torsten Bell and Adam Corlett …an autocrat to worry about. But a history lesson or two for policy makers wouldn’t go amiss over the summer break, because amid the growing Brexit-related chaos something else is… READ MORE
Welfare With the benefits of benefit reform diminishing, Universal Credit needs a new direction 11 June 2018 by David Finch Another busy period of Brexit debate has pushed other big domestic issues out of the headlines. This is particularly true of Universal Credit (UC) – where two key government publications… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances· Welfare· Intergenerational Centre A Budget for intergenerational fairness? 10 November 2017 by Laura Gardiner Beyond facing down expected economic downgrades and clarifying the direction on Brexit, resetting the agenda on intergenerational fairness has emerged as a top priority for the Chancellor in this month’s… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Welfare Let it go Chancellor. Why Philip Hammond should revisit the benefit freeze in next month’s Budget 15 October 2017 by David Finch …(£780). With the first Autumn Budget fast approaching, does the Chancellor have time to change course? Having reset the fiscal rules in readiness for Brexit, he came out of the… READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty· Welfare The living standards issue that’s bigger than Brexit for lower income households 9 September 2017 by Matthew Whittaker Love it or loathe it, the long shadow of Brexit is set to dominate our political weather for some considerable time to come. With good reason of course. The long-term… READ MORE
Welfare It’s crunch time for Universal Credit – and big changes are needed 7 July 2017 by David Finch …committed to helping. These cuts aren’t just about income losses through. They fundamentally reshape incentives within our welfare system. As Work in Brexit Britain – a new Resolution Foundation book… READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Housing· Welfare The 14p stealth tax rise that is hammering ‘just managing families’ 30 September 2016 by Torsten Bell …this measure how does the first three months of Theresa May’s government measure up? First and foremost of course this government is about delivering Brexit. But, just this once, let’s… READ MORE
Welfare IMF downward growth revision would mean the tax take falling by £150m a week 19 July 2016 RF says active fiscal and monetary policy needed to mitigate impact of any post-Brexit downturn The IMF’s revised outlook for GDP growth in the UK would mean the tax… READ MORE
Welfare· Intergenerational Centre Brexit defeat for millennials risks being compounded by huge tax and benefit transfer from young to old 3 July 2016 RF says repairing generational divide a crucial task for new PM as it announces new Intergenerational Commission The next Prime Minister must repair the stark intergenerational divide exposed by the… READ MORE
