Labour market The minimum wage should not be the same for everyone 31 July 2013 by George Bain The worst job ad I ever saw still sticks in my mind: “Security guard wanted — £1 an hour, 100 hours a week. Supply your own dog.” As chair of the Low Pay Commission, setting Britain’s first minimum wage, I developed a habit of reading such adverts from temp agencies. The paltry pay was a … Continued READ MORE
Housing Some home truths 22 July 2013 by Vidhya Alakeson In Britain today, a couple earning £22,000 with one child looking to buy a home are priced out of almost 40 per cent of local authorities. How did we end up here? And where in Britain can low-income working families afford to live? According to our report Home Truths–published last week, a third of the country’s … Continued READ MORE
Housing Search for a housing strategy 17 July 2013 by Giselle Cory The housing crisis has built up over time and can’t be fixed overnight. But there are things the government can do to make homes more affordable to lower-income families Much of Britain is unaffordable to lower-income, working families according to Home Truths, a report published this week by the Resolution Foundation. The report finds that a … Continued READ MORE
Housing The housing crisis is pricing workers out of ever more of Britain 16 July 2013 by Vidhya Alakeson The fact that many ordinary working families are priced out of central London boroughs such as Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Islington will surprise no one. But a new report by the Resolution Foundation shows that there are now affordability black spots across all parts of the country where low and middle income families would have to … Continued READ MORE
Housing Number of families with perilous levels of debt repayments could more than double to 1.2 million 11 July 2013 by Matthew Whittaker width=”597″ height=”486″ frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”> Closer to the Edge? Prospects for household debt repayments as interest rates rise from ResolutionFoundation For more information see Closer to the Edge? Prospects for household debt repayments as interest rates rise READ MORE
Welfare Despite further cuts in spending, tax rises look difficult to avoid 8 July 2013 by Gavin Kelly On Radio 4 Analysis Gavin Kelly discusses Resolution Foundation analysis on fiscal choices at the Spending Round 2013 Listen (3m 2s) READ MORE
Labour market The politics of low pay are changing. This time around, the Tories would be wise to act first 5 July 2013 by James Plunkett It’s often hard to anticipate shifts in policy direction, even when they’re at close range. Like the steady build-up before a mudslide, arguments accumulate slowly but can then move suddenly, leaving the political landscape changed. Today, there are signs that such a shift may be due on the issue of low pay. With one in … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Doing the zero sums 2 July 2013 by Vidhya Alakeson and Matthew Pennycook Pressure on public sector budgets has led to a rise in zero-hours contracts, particularly in the care sector. The biggest losers are vulnerable service-users and staff on poor pay and insecure hours. It all adds up to the next big care scandal Over the past year, the government has repeatedly raised concerns about the quality … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Universal Credit: a missed opportunity to help older workers 1 July 2013 by Giselle Cory We know that many people want to work into older age – yet many do not. So what stops them? For some, caring for family or friends can make paid work near impossible. For others, their own poor health can be a barrier. And for families on low incomes, it may be that work simply … Continued READ MORE
Living standards ‘Households face £26bn of fiscal pain in 2016-18’ 26 June 2013 by Gavin Kelly If the current timetable for deficit reduction is maintained, households should brace themselves for roughly another £26bn of fiscal pain in the years between 2016 and 2018 – whether it comes in the form of extra cuts to public services, another big hit to welfare or new tax-rises. The much hyped “AME [Annually Managed Expenditure] … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances Three things to bear in mind when watching Osborne today 26 June 2013 by James Plunkett Why everyone’s pretty much making it up 1. Most of today’s cuts were decided three years ago In his statement today, the Chancellor needs to find cuts in most unprotected departments of around 8-9 per cent. That number flows mainly from three things: the pace of deficit reduction; the decision to protect health, schools, international … Continued READ MORE
Labour market The forward march of zero-hours contracts must be halted 25 June 2013 by Matthew Pennycook “It’s the uncertainty that gets to me,” Shirley says, despondently. “These contracts only work one way – they don’t offer any flexibility even if you wanted it because if you turn down hours you suffer. One of the girls had her hours permanently reduced because she asked the line manager for a day off to … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Zero-hours contracts must be a two-way street 25 June 2013 by Vidhya Alakeson Official estimates suggest that the number of people employed on a zero-hours contract – which provides no guaranteed hours of work – has risen from 134,000 in 2006, to 208,000 in the last quarter of 2012, and that 8% of workplaces in England and Wales now use zero-hours contracts. These figures are sure to be an underestimate. … Continued READ MORE
Housing Build to rent: the obstacles for housing providers 24 June 2013 by Vidhya Alakeson When delegates gather in Manchester tomorrow for the start of the Chartered Institute of Housing‘s annual conference, there will no doubt be talk of build to rent, the government fund to stimulate new private rented housing supply and attract institutional investors. Registered providers are looking for new ways of attracting capital into housing and build to … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances SR2013: we ain’t seen nothing yet 21 June 2013 by Vidhya Alakeson When the chancellor stands up next week to deliver his one year Spending Review, it will beg a lot of questions about future expenditure cuts With a week to go before the Spending Review is announced, reports indicate that the government is making progress towards the £11.5 billion in departmental spending cuts that it needs … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Austerity after 2015: why the worst is yet to come 20 June 2013 by Matthew Whittaker With a week to go before the Spending Review, reports suggest that the Treasury has secured just a third of the £11.5bn of cuts planned in 2015-16. Yet amid the claim and counter-claim about how far departmental budgets can be squeezed, it is worth reflecting on how the review fits into the broader context of deficit reduction. … Continued READ MORE
Living standards A working solution? The continued rise of in-work poverty 13 June 2013 by Matthew Whittaker The latest edition of the DWP’s Households Below Average Income series released today shows that child poverty (i.e. those living in households with incomes less than two-thirds of the median) continued its downward trend in 2011-12. Having peaked at about 29% in 1992, the proportion of children living in poverty has since fallen steadily, reaching 17% in … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Now is the time to debate full employment 12 June 2013 by Gavin Kelly Full employment is not fantasy economics, but debate is squashed by economic complacency and fatalism A Labour leadership striving to re-earn the electorate’s trust in its capacity to manage the public finances wisely, restless mid-term Conservative backbenchers fearing they are sliding towards electoral defeat, a recession-wearied public agitated about welfare bills and a stubbornly high … Continued READ MORE
Labour market To the Point – Protecting our workers 3 June 2013 by Vidhya Alakeson This post originally appeared on the Nursery World blog Last week, the Department for Education released analysis suggesting that relaxing ratios would reduce the cost of childcare for parents by 28 per cent. In my column last month, I suggested that the Government must effectively be spending the same money twice if it was saying it … Continued READ MORE
Welfare One size does not fit all: why Universal Credit needs to work for older people 28 May 2013 by Giselle Cory This blog originally appeared on the New Statesman The shape of our labour market has altered dramatically in recent decades. Among the starkest changes is the increase in the number of older workers – from five million in 1992 to 7.5 million in 2012. One in three people of working age in the UK is already … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Intergenerational Centre The generation that’s going backwards 19 May 2013 by Gavin Kelly Falling incomes, rising prices, impossible debts … even before the crash some workers faced a suffocating squeeze When John F. Kennedy declared that “a rising tide lifts all boats” he was encapsulating the postwar belief that growth would generate steady rises in living standards for all. Even if richer households were sometimes the biggest gainers, … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances Ed Miliband has many challenges – but the spending review isn’t one of them 7 May 2013 by Gavin Kelly George Osborne’s immediate priorities shouldn’t distract Labour, which instead must focus on how it plans to cut the deficit Whether Labour matches the spending totals set out by George Osborne in the spending review is deemed to be one of the most significant questions in British politics and the sternest test yet of Ed Miliband‘s leadership. But like many self-evident truths that … Continued READ MORE
Housing The ticking debt bomb? 2 May 2013 by Matthew Whittaker This blog originally appeared on Public Finance When the financial crisis first hit, politicians of all parties talked up the notion of ‘rebalancing’ the economy, moving away from a growth model dependent on financial services, house price increases and consumption and towards one based on the real economy and on trade. Five years on and, with … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Labour’s recovery position 29 April 2013 by Gavin Kelly To assert that the next general election will be about living standards is now a commonplace in Westminster, even a cliche. Say it and people nod along. But precisely what this means – the progress the public thinks is possible, the purchase they believe political parties have on the main policy issues – remains rather hazy. Some … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Taking a local look: Household disposable income 24 April 2013 by Giselle Cory Today’s figures from the ONS show that household disposable income continued to fall in 2011. This is part of a longer term trend of stagnation and decline in incomes that began around 2003. As we showed in the Commission on Living Standards, disposable income per head fell in every English region outside London from 2003 to 2008, even … Continued READ MORE
