Publications The Living Standards Outlook 2021 18 January 2021 by Mike Brewer and Adam Corlett and Karl Handscomb and Daniel Tomlinson In the Living Standards Outlook, we assess how the hoped-for post-pandemic economic recovery might translate into a recovery for living standards. Focusing on working-age households, we provide projections for household… Continue Reading
Publications Pandemic Pressures Why families on a low income are spending more during Covid-19 11 January 2021 by Mike Brewer and Ruth Patrick Household spending has fallen during the Covid-19 pandemic, but not for many of those on the lowest incomes. This note brings together data from representative surveys with vivid accounts from… Continue Reading
Events A standard recovery? The outlook for living standards, poverty and inequality Monday 18 January 2021 2020 was tough for household living standards, even with unprecedented support to increase benefits and pay wages through the Job Retention Scheme. While the start of 2021 looks grim, a… Continue Reading
Publications Improving our understanding of UK poverty will require better data 6 January 2021 by Adam Corlett Policy makers across the political spectrum want to improve the living standards of the UK’s poorer households. The Leader of the House of Commons recently stated that “We are committed… Continue Reading
Publications Caught in a (Covid) trap Incomes, savings and spending through the coronavirus crisis 15 November 2020 by Karl Handscomb and Lindsay Judge In this briefing note we examine how the family finances of working-age adults have been affected since Covid-19 gripped the nation this spring. Drawing on new data from a representative… Continue Reading
Comment The Chancellor has prevented a grim winter of redundancies – but has failed to fix the faults with his jobs support package 6 November 2020 by Mike Brewer On Thursday, Rishi Sunak announced that the Job Retention Scheme – where employees can be put on furlough and still get 80 per cent of their wages covered by the… Continue Reading
Publications From locking down to levelling up The past, present and future of Welsh living standards 5 November 2020 by Charlie McCurdy Wales needs to move centre-stage in the UK’s ‘levelling up’ agenda as its strong performance on jobs has not been matched on pay packets, leaving the country struggling to reduce… Continue Reading
Events Coping with the crunch COVID-19’s impact on household incomes, savings and debt Monday 16 November 2020 The spring lockdown caused the biggest short-term income shock since the mid-1970s, with better off households seeing their savings rise while lower income families took on more debt. But this… Continue Reading
