Consumer debt in the UK is down 10%. The bad news? Utility bill arrears are up

Britons have been borrowing less since Covid, but people on lower incomes are falling behind on the rent

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It’s important to worry about the right things. Interest rates are up, sparking worries about our debts – in my case, the mortgage. Consumer debt (credit cards, overdrafts and personal loans) is surging, we’re told. But the truth is, consumer debt levels are down. New Resolution Foundation research shows them at their lowest since at least … Continued

Britain’s inheritance boom could further decouple people’s retirement age from their state pension age

It’s inheritance and where you live which are the barriers to retirement

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The UK’s state pension age is going up – and perhaps faster than expected. The age at which you can draw the state pension is due to rise from 66 to 67 by 2028. And the Government is now reportedly considering bringing forward the rise to 68 from 2046 to the 2030s, as part of … Continued

A loan scheme for renters could stop tenants from being made homeless

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The protracted length of the coronavirus crisis has led to rent arrears reaching twice the level observed going into the crisis. In January 2021, we estimate that over 750,000 families were behind with their housing payments, 300,000 of which contained dependent children. Before the pandemic hit, many families spent a high share of their income … Continued

The Child Trust Fund comes of age

It presents a unique opportunity to learn about the difference that asset ownership can make

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With little fanfare the UK is about to witness a mass experiment in the extension of access to capital. Other nations may have sovereign wealth funds, and some have experimented with universal basic incomes, but the UK is the first to create a citizen’s endowment for all young adults. From next week those turning eighteen … Continued

Covid-19
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Wealth & assets

Any further questions?

From 'Weathering the storm: How wealth shapes the ability of families to face this economic crisis'

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We often have more questions submitted for our event Q&A sessions than we’re able to answer. Where this is the case, we’ll endeavour to respond to a selection of the most interesting or most representative questions that went unanswered. The questions below were submitted to our panel for the event Weathering the storm: How wealth … Continued

Low pay
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Pay
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Wealth & assets
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Political parties and elections

Question Time’s £80K man was wrong about the top 5%. But the super-rich are on another planet

Those in his earning bracket have far more in common with workers on average pay than they do with the 1%

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f you live in Bolton and earn more than £80,000, you’re rich compared with your neighbours. Really rich. The average pay for all workers is just £22,000 and one in four earns less than £15,000. And yes, you’re still rich among the country as a whole: only 5% of earners make more than £80,000 – … Continued

More ambition, less risk – building on the success of auto-enrolment

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We often find it harder to celebrate policy successes than decry policy failures. So you might have missed a policy success which we are marking this week. We are about to have completed the successful initial rolling-out of automatic enrolment into occupational pension saving. Millions of employees will enjoy higher living standards in retirement as … Continued

How wealth taxes can raise billions more without scaring any horses

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Raising taxes is never easy. Raising taxes with the government’s slim parliamentary majority is harder still. Raising taxes on wealth in those circumstances, given our diverging senses of fairness is…  not a walk in the park. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need doing, and the good news is that significant progress can be made … Continued

Widening inequalities between generations are impeding social mobility

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Intergenerational progress – the principle that each generation will do better than the one before – has come to a halt. Millennials in their late 20s are earning less than generation X did 15 years earlier, own half as many homes as the baby boomers, and shoulder greater levels of risk than previous generations. It’s … Continued

Matthew Whittaker

Now’s not the time for auto-pilot

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Straightforward policy successes are a rare achievement in government and need celebrating when they arrive, lest we forget that policy matters. The recent sizeable gains the UK has made on private pension saving as a result of the introduction of auto-enrolment are therefore a clear cause for cheer. But challenges remain, starting with the increase … Continued

Baby boomers are going to have to pay more tax on their wealth to fund health and social care

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In the past decade a new issue has entered British politics – fairness between the generations. It straddles the conventional political divide. The Prime Minister has spoken of “a growing divide between a more prosperous older generation and a struggling younger generation”. And the leader of the Labour Party has argued that future generations should … Continued

Auto-enrolment has had a great beginning. But will it have a happy ending?

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We hear a lot about good policy plans gone wrong (Universal Credit springs to mind) for obvious reasons. But we ought to listen (and learn) from successes too. Auto-enrolment into workplace pension savings is the obvious candidate for this cheery policy tale, though the story has only just begun. Over nine million have signed up … Continued

What could the latest life expectancy projections mean for the State Pension Age?

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At the end of last week, the ONS published the latest future projections showing its best estimate of how long we can expect to live. We don’t automatically associate our living standards with factors like health or how many years of life we may have. But just like income, life expectancy is an important indicator … Continued

Time to put away the credit card

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The squeeze is on. National accounts data last month confirmed that household incomes have been falling for the last three quarters. Yesterday’s labour market statistics showed that wages continue to lose ground to inflation. And today new survey data from the Bank the England shows that credit availability is tightening. Today’s survey is the latest … Continued

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