Unsung Britain
The 13 million working-age families across the poorer half of the country are widely courted by politicians. No party can win elections without their votes, and the country cannot succeed without their needs being met. They are working harder and caring more, yet remain poorly understood and badly served, which is why we have dubbed them ‘Unsung Britain’.
Read moreLiving Standards Outlook 2026
Low-income families in Britain have endured two decades of unusually weak income growth. Incomes for the poorer half of non-pensioner households – a group we refer to as ‘Unsung Britain’ – have risen by an average of just 0.5 per cent a year since the mid-2000s, far below pre-financial crisis norms, despite rising employment among these families and a huge reduction in low pay. Looking ahead, the outlook for living standards remains gloomy: the OBR expects average incomes to grow by only 0.3 per cent a year over the rest of the decade on average, even weaker than the income growth experienced over the past decade.
Living Standards Outlook 2026Our mission
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.
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Green your eats
A living standards-first approach to cutting emissions from agriculture and land use
This report provides an assessment of the UK’s progress toward net zero in the land use and agriculture sector – the only major area where emissions have barely fallen over the past 15 years. It examines both sides of the challenge: cutting emissions from food production and reshaping how land is used.
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Listen and learn
Improving the way that Universal Credit works
This report considers an often-overlooked aspect of Universal Credit (UC): how the nuts and bolts of the UC system could be improved. Here, we set out a programme of reform that is grounded in claimants’ own experiences; realistic about the system as is; and fully costed when it comes to both the investment and ongoing spend our recommendations would entail.
Read moreLiving wage
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:
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Data
Explore our interactive housing indicators or read about our alternative estimate of UK employment.
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Decoupling wages and recoupling living standardsLatest research
Resolution Ventures
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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