Labour Market Outlook Q4 2025
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.
Read moreCare to negotiate?
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.
Read moreOur 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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Stairway to headroom
Putting the Autumn Budget 2025 decisions on tax, spending and borrowing into context
The Chancellor’s second tax-rising budget arrived under dark clouds, but forecasts came in better than feared. But even though she was saved from the worst predictions of past weeks, the Chancellor still faced a tough task to clear three big hurdles – fixing the public finances, easing the cost of living squeeze on families, and taxing smartly and fairly.
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Delivering dignity?
Early lessons from the introduction of Adult Disability Payment in Scotland
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. Although the two benefits have the same eligibility criteria and are paid at the same rates, Social Security Scotland made it clear that their aim was to treat claimants with “dignity, fairness and respect” throughout the process of claiming ADP.
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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Minimum wage, maximum pressure?
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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