Five challenges· Budgets & fiscal events· Economy and public finances Tough medicine Assessing the Chancellor’s options in her first Budget UpcomingMonday 14 October 2024 Register to attend in person or to receive an access link for online viewers. Painful post-election Budgets are a time-honoured tradition in Britain, and the new Government’s upcoming fiscal event will be no exception, with the PM and Chancellor already warning of tough decisions being made. Expectations are being set for higher taxes, higher borrowing … Continued SIGN UP
Structurally Unsound Social inequalities in the mid-2020s UpcomingTuesday 8 October 2024 Register to attend in person or to receive an access link for online viewers. The UK has made progress in addressing societal inequalities, but continues to be shaped by interlinked structural disparities. That includes those related to gender, race, class, sexuality, age and disability. Five years ago, the Resolution Foundation and UCL collaborated on a … Continued SIGN UP
Five challenges· Economic growth A build-up economic strategy How much growth could the Government’s reforms deliver? UpcomingThursday 19 September 2024 Register to attend in person or to receive an access link for online viewers. The past 15 years of economic stagnation has caused families’ living standards to flatline, and the new Government is right to put ‘kickstarting’ growth at the heart of its agenda. Already, Ministers have set out what many of their pro-growth reforms … Continued SIGN UP
Five challenges· Housing Building Blocks Can the Government hit its housing targets? Thursday 12 September 2024 The new Government has set an ambitious target of delivering 1.5 million new homes over a five-year period – at a rate that hasn’t been achieved since the 1960s – and has put planning reform at the heart of its agenda. But successive governments have aimed high, but delivered low, when it comes to housebuilding. … Continued READ MORE
Five challenges· Tax Taxed into a corner? The Chancellor’s options in the upcoming Budget Tuesday 10 September 2024 The Chancellor has set the date for the first Budget of Labour’s Government – 30th October – and has emphasised the stark fiscal difficulties facing the country, even if she goes ahead with the £23 billion a year of future tax rises announced by her predecessor but not yet implemented. The strains on the public … Continued READ MORE
Household debt· Pensions & savings· Wealth & assets A new era? Wealth and savings policy in the decade ahead Monday 9 September 2024 Register to attend in person or to receive access link for online viewers. Britain’s economy has been reshaped by 16 years of weak growth and stagnating incomes, and by a four-decade wealth boom that has only just been tempered by the recent rise in interest rates. This wealth boom – which has not been shared … Continued READ MORE
Five challenges· Low pay· Labour market Making the ‘New Deal’ a good deal for low-paid workers How should the Government deliver its planned changes to employment law? Thursday 5 September 2024 Register to attend in person or to receive an access link. The Government has come into office promising major workplace reforms that could amount to the biggest shake-up of the workplace in a generation. The ‘New Deal for Working People’ pledged a number of reforms, including to unfair dismissal, sick pay, employment status, zero hours … Continued READ MORE
Living standards A brighter shade of grey? The current outlook for living standards Thursday 29 August 2024 Register to attend in person or to receive an access link for online viewers. The last Parliament was truly awful for growth in household living standards. The combination of the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis left the country on course for the worst parliament for disposable income growth since the early 1950s. But while the possibility … Continued READ MORE
Net zero Net zeroing in on investment Can the Government deliver a fair transition? Monday 22 July 2024 Register to attend in person or to receive an access link for online viewers. The new Labour Government says it wants clean energy – and wider action on climate change – at the heart of its new economic strategy, pledging to go further and faster on decarbonising electricity, insulating homes, and shifting to electric vehicles … Continued READ MORE
Political parties and elections The times are a-changin’ Assessing the political and economic outlook for the new Labour Government Thursday 11 July 2024 Labour has returned to power in Westminster for the first time in 14 years. The new Government has a big electoral mandate but faces a momentous task in delivering lasting economic and social change. From kickstarting growth and reducing poverty, to reforming the planning system, energy market and workplace conditions, Labour’s agenda is fraught with … Continued READ MORE
General Election 2024· Labour market Is Britain working? The labour market context to the general election Tuesday 25 June 2024 Since 2010, Britain’s labour market has gone through a period of boom and bust – with record jobs growth in the last decade followed by a struggle to return to pre-pandemic employment rates in the 2020s. And while the country has experienced an unprecedented pay depression, a rising minimum wage has driven down low pay … Continued READ MORE
Universal Credit· General Election 2024· Welfare The cost of poor health What does rising health-related benefit spending mean for the UK and its next government? Thursday 20 June 2024 Health-related benefit spending is rising – particularly among children and younger adults – and this increase is forecast to accelerate in the years ahead. With record numbers of people claiming disability benefits, incapacity benefits or both, there are serious questions to answer about what lies behind this trend and its impact on the health of … Continued READ MORE
General Election 2024· Welfare The state of welfare How has Britain’s safety net changed since 2010 and what comes next? Thursday 13 June 2024 Britain’s welfare system has undergone a major overhaul over the past decade, with major reforms as well as major cuts. In more recent years it’s faced unprecedented pressures, from the Covid-19 pandemic to the cost-of-living crisis. The social security system is at the heart of many general election debates, and this one looks set to … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Cities and regions· Scotland Ending stagnation How to boost prosperity across Scotland Thursday 6 June 2024 This event was in Glasgow. A toxic combination of 15 years of low growth, and four decades of high inequality, has left Britain poorer and falling behind its peers. Productivity growth is weak and public investment is low, while wages today are no higher than they were before the financial crisis. Britain needs a new … Continued READ MORE
General Election 2024· Public spending· Economy and public finances State crafting Changes and challenges for managing the public finances Wednesday 5 June 2024 Tax and spend are at the heart of every general election – understandably as they represent the most significant choices made by most governments. The size and shape of the state has changed substantially since 2010. Despite spending cuts and tax rises, public debt levels are up. Whoever wins the next election will have to … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption· Macroeconomic policy Inflation scarring How has the cost-of-living crisis changed Britain? Wednesday 22 May 2024 Economies around the world exited the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, and jumped straight into the biggest inflation surge for four decades, with a cost-of-living crisis accelerated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But with inflation finally back close to its target of two per cent, to be confirmed by the ONS on Wednesday 22nd May, now … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Cities and regions Setting a new path to greater, shared prosperity How cities in the North East can help to end economic stagnation Tuesday 21 May 2024 This event was in Newcastle. A toxic combination of 15 years of low growth, and four decades of high inequality, has left Britain poorer and falling behind its peers. Productivity growth is weak and public investment is low, while wages today are no higher than they were before the financial crisis. Britain needs a new … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Cities and regions Building a better Britain How cities like Bradford can help to end economic stagnation Thursday 16 May 2024 This event was in Bradford. A toxic combination of 15 years of low growth, and four decades of high inequality, has left Britain poorer and falling behind its peers. Productivity growth is weak and public investment is low, while wages today are no higher than they were before the financial crisis. Britain needs a new … Continued READ MORE
Wales· Fiscal policy· Cities and regions· Scotland· Economic growth Policy making beyond Westminster Economic lessons from 25 years of national devolution Monday 29 April 2024 1999 saw the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Senedd all meet in their full form for the first time. This marked the most significant act of devolution of the 20th Century, and it has changed the United Kingdom significantly over the past quarter of a century. The process of devolution has continued … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Cities and regions Overcoming stagnation A new strategy for economic prosperity in Britain? Thursday 25 April 2024 This event was in Bath. Economic growth in the UK has been sluggish ever since the global financial crisis. More recent large-scale disruptions caused by Brexit and Covid-19 have created additional challenges to growth and the vital public services, institutions, and fiscal measures that underpin it. Productivity and public investment remain low. Meanwhile, stalling wage … Continued READ MORE
Labour market enforcement· Labour market Precarious profits? Why firms use insecure contracts, and what would change their minds Thursday 25 April 2024 Over one-in-ten workers across Britain is employed on some form of precarious contract. The problems with such working arrangements for some workers are well known: they have limited control over their working patterns and insecure incomes too. But why firms use, or even come to rely on them, is rarely discussed and poorly understand. We … Continued READ MORE
Economy 2030· Cities and regions A new Economic Strategy for Britain How can Oxford help drive equitable economic growth? Tuesday 23 April 2024 This event was in Oxford. Economic growth in the UK has been sluggish ever since the global financial crisis. More recent large-scale disruptions caused by Brexit and Covid-19 have created additional challenges to growth and the vital public services, institutions, and fiscal measures that underpin it. Productivity and public investment remain low. Meanwhile, stalling wage … Continued READ MORE
Net zero· Living standards· Prices & consumption· Productivity & industrial strategy· Public spending Powering Britain Can we decarbonise electricity without disadvantaging poorer families? Monday 22 April 2024 The UK’s transition towards a net zero economy requires a complete overhaul of our power sector. We don’t just need electricity generation that has been decarbonised, but a huge amount more of it as we switch away from heating our homes with gas and powering our cars with petrol. This will require a huge step … Continued READ MORE
Universal Credit· Living standards· Welfare In credit? Assessing where Universal Credit’s long rollout has left the benefit system, and Britain Monday 15 April 2024 Universal Credit, announced back in 2010 and introduced in 2013, will be fully rolled out by whoever wins the next election. The benefit has been on a rollercoaster over those years – with the IT underpinning it causing major teething problems, and later success in processing unprecedented numbers of claims during the pandemic. In the … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Housing Building pressure? Rising rents, and what to expect in the future Monday 8 April 2024 The combination of high house prices and stagnating incomes over recent decades, coupled with the decline of social housing, mean that millions more of us are private renters. And they are renting for longer too. Private rents have risen swiftly in the wake of the pandemic. What happens next matters hugely for millions of families, … Continued READ MORE
