The Bank of England is approaching the end of the largest tightening cycle since Norman Lamont was hiking rates to keep Britain in the ERM, but it says further rate rises may be needed if high inflation is proves to be stickier than expected, the Resolution Foundation said today (Thursday) in response to the Bank’s … Continued

Different coping mechanisms are being used by different groups to get through the cost-of-living crisis, with middle-aged people running up debts, young people turning to friends and family, and poorer people resorting to more extreme measures like eating less and visiting food banks, according to new analysis published today (Thursday) by the Resolution Foundation. The … Continued

The UK borrowed £139.2 billion in the last financial year – £13.2 billion less than the latest OBR forecast – but the UK’s public sector net worth is also falling, and shows that the country is failing to invest in its future, the Resolution Foundation said today (Tuesday) in response to the latest ONS public … Continued

The UK’s fragmented, weak and under-resourced system for enforcing labour market rights costs workers billions a year and a radical overhaul is needed, according to new Resolution Foundation research published today (Tuesday). Enforce for good – the final report of a four-year project on labour market enforcement, supported by Unbound Philanthropy – examines the scale … Continued

Inflation eased by far less than expected last month, with food prices continuing to accelerate and leaving Britain with double digit inflation of 10.1 per cent – twice the rate of the US (5 per cent) – the Resolution Foundation said today (Wednesday) in response to the latest ONS price data. The biggest upward pressures … Continued

The UK workforce expanded in the three months to February, driven by young people leaving full-time education and moving into work, but the longer-term problem of rising ill-health continues to worsen, the Resolution Foundation said in response to the latest ONS labour market statistics today (Tuesday). The UK workforce continued to expand in recent months, … Continued

Around one-in-six people aged 18-34 – 2.6 million people in total – live in people poor quality housing, and it is having a detrimental impact on their physical and mental health, according to new research published today (Saturday) by the Resolution Foundation. The briefing Trying Times – supported by the Health Foundation – uses data … Continued

The share of employees receiving off-the-job workplace training has fallen by 30 per cent over the past two decades, from 9.8 per cent to 6.9 per cent. But while some might have expected low-paid, and generally lower trained, workers to have borne the brunt of this decline, in fact it has been driven by higher-paid … Continued

The size of the UK’s ‘stealth tax’ threshold freeze over six years has almost trebled to £25 billion, compared to the £9 billion forecast when it was originally announced in the 2021 Budget, and later extended, according to new Resolution Foundation analysis published today (Saturday). Happy new tax year, 2023! examines the personal tax and benefit … Continued

Around 1.7 million workers are set to directly benefit when the National Living Wage (NLW) rises by 9.7 per cent to £10.42 an hour on 1st April, with new analysis showing that the NLW has almost doubled real pay growth for Britain’s lowest earners, the Resolution Foundation says today (Friday). The 92p rise in the … Continued

Britain’s cycle of weak and highly volatile public investment has left the country poorer, and is so deeply embedded that a complete overhaul is needed of how we make decisions on critical public investment, according to new research published today (Thursday) by the Resolution Foundation. Cutting the cuts – the 34th report of The Economy … Continued

Unprecedented government support helped to ensure that typical disposable incomes didn’t fall over the course of the pandemic, and actually rose for poor families, in marked contrast to the biggest income squeeze in a generation that Britain is currently living through, the Resolution Foundation said today (Thursday) in response to the latest Households Below Average … Continued

A surprise rise in inflation last month – with CPI rising from 10.1 to 10.4 per cent – will further complicate the decision over what to do about interest rates when MPC members meet tomorrow, the Resolution Foundation said today (Wednesday) in response to the latest ONS prices data. The inflation rise in February was against market … Continued

Over the past year, soaring inflation has caused a massive fall in workers’ real wages. But Britain’s pay problems – and the stagnation in living standards they have contributed to – go much further back. If wages had continued to grow as they were before the financial crash of 2008, real average weekly earnings would … Continued

The Chancellor announced an impressively broad suite of policies to encourage more people into work, but Britain’s economy remains stuck in a deep funk – with people supported into work but getting poorer, and paying more tax but seeing public services cut, the Resolution Foundation said today (Thursday) in its overnight analysis. The Foundation’s Budget … Continued

Faced with an economic outlook that has improved in the short term but remains weak, the Chancellor today (Wednesday) delivered a major policy package that is likely to be more successful at getting Britain working than investing, the Resolution Foundation said in its response to Budget 2023. Following energy price falls, the OBR has significantly … Continued

The jobs market has remained resilient in the face of rising interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis, with unemployment stable and wage inflation moving closer to a range the Bank of England can live with, said the Resolution Foundation in response to today’s labour market statistics release. Demand for workers appears stable, with vacancies falling … Continued

The Chancellor is set to receive a short-term borrowing boost in his Budget, some of which he will use to prevent a spike in energy bills and petrol prices next month. But in the face of a longer-term weak outlook he faces tough choices on how to resolve public sector strikes and boost Britain’s growth … Continued

Recent improvements in the UK’s trade openness have been driven by a temporary boost from the global dash for gold that has covered over a worrying fall in goods exports, and more promising growth in the exports of services such as banking, travel and education – the one area of trade where the UK has … Continued

The Ofgem announcement today (Monday) that the energy price cap will fall to £3,280 in April, down from £4,279 over the past three months, confirms that the cost of universal energy support – delivered through the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) – is likely to fall by 90 per cent next year to £1.4 billion, says … Continued

Record tax receipts from self-assessment in January and downward revisions to previous months mean that borrowing is around £30 billion lower than the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) forecast last November for the year to date, providing a fresh tonic to the Chancellor as he prepares to deliver his Spring Budget in three weeks’ time, … Continued

Government efforts to boost Britain’s workforce should focus on supporting more mothers into work, and helping older workers and those with a disability stay in work, rather than persuading the large Covid cohort of older workers to ‘unretire’, according to new Resolution Foundation research published today (Tuesday). The issue of workforce participation has come to … Continued

CPI inflation fell for the third consecutive month to 10.1 per cent in January, but the inflation rates experienced by rich and poor households grew to 2.9 percentage points, the Resolution Foundation said today (Wednesday) in response to the latest ONS prices data. Services inflation – which is a better indicator of domestically generated inflation … Continued

Labour market data now paint a picture of softer demand for and increased supply of workers – with rising unemployment and falling vacancies contrasting with a welcome rise in participation, the Resolution Foundation said today (Tuesday) in response to the latest ONS labour market statistics. The latest data points to a cooling down in the … Continued