Living standards· Prices & consumption The only way is down Assessing the impact of falls in wholesale energy prices on household and public finances 7 February 2023 by Emily Fry and James Smith Huge rises in energy prices through much of 2022 sparked a cost of living crisis with recession-level hits to family (as inflation soared) and public finances (as the state partially protected us from bill rises). But there has finally been some good news with wholesale gas prices for 2023-24 down more than 70 per cent … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption The Living Standards Outlook 2023 9 January 2023 by Mike Brewer and Emily Fry and Lalitha Try To deepen our understanding of where the cost of living crisis leaves Britain, our fifth Living Standards Outlook combines a new survey of 10,000 adults’ experience of the crisis with detailed modelling of household incomes and poverty this year and beyond. READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty Costly differences Living standards for working-age people with disabilities 4 January 2023 by Omar El Dessouky and Charlie McCurdy The cost of living crisis has shone a harsh light on different groups’ ability to deal with fast- rising prices. In this briefing note, we focus on the living standards of people with disabilities, including results from a new survey of just under 8,000 working-age adults, over 2,000 of whom reported a long-term illness or … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Labour market New Year’s Outlook 2023 They think it’s all over… it isn’t now 30 December 2022 by Torsten Bell 2022 was a truly horrendous year, dominated by the arrival of double-digit inflation that drove a 3.3 per cent (or £800 per household) hit to real disposable incomes, the biggest annual fall in a century. This has left three-quarters of lower-income working families cutting back this Christmas. Against that difficult backdrop, this note considers what … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Housing Housing Outlook Q3 2022 17 September 2022 by Felicia Odamtten and Daniel Tomlinson Attention has understandably been focused on energy bills in recent months, but other price pressures have also been building of late. With large increases in private rents reported over the last year, this Housing Outlook reflects on the short- and long-term challenges facing the 4.4 million private renting households in England today. Private rents for … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Public spending· Economy and public finances A blank cheque An analysis of the new cap on energy prices 13 September 2022 by Adam Corlett and Jack Leslie and Jonathan Marshall and James Smith Liz Truss’s first major act as Prime Minister was to set out a huge energy support package to reduce the scale of the living standards’ catastrophe this winter, with the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) as its highlight. The EPG will mean that annual energy prices for the typical household are capped at £2,500 for two … Continued READ MORE
Living standards In at the deep end The living standards crisis facing the new Prime Minister 1 September 2022 by Adam Corlett and Lalitha Try This paper sets out projections for household living standards through to 2026-27. With the UK facing the largest two-year real income fall in at least a century, these forecasts make it clear that a big policy response will be needed from the new government. READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption A chilling crisis Policy options to deal with soaring energy prices 25 August 2022 by Mike Brewer and Emily Fry and Karl Handscomb and Jonathan Marshall This briefing note, released just ahead of the announcement of the winter 2022 energy price cap level, looks at the implications of an unprecedented jump in energy costs on low-to-middle income households, stresses the need for urgent and novel policy thinking to lessen this blow, and outlines how this could take shape. READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty Cutting back to keep warm Why low-income households will have to cut back on spending by three times as much as high-income households this winter 15 August 2022 by Karl Handscomb and Jonathan Marshall This winter, low-income households will have to reduce their spending by three times as much as high-income households in order to afford their energy bills – a situation that is particularly concerning now that we know energy bills in January-March 2023 are set to be an annualised £4,266, rather than the £2,800 expected earlier this … Continued READ MORE
Monetary policy· Living standards· Macroeconomic policy In the dread of winter Prospects for inflation in the coming months ahead of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Report 3 August 2022 by Jack Leslie In the face of the highest inflation rate for 40 years, many are predicting that the Bank of England will announce the largest interest rate rise in 27 years this week. This spotlight focuses on the challenges and uncertainties facing both the Bank of England and UK families from rising inflation this winter. Contrary to … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty The Living Standards Audit 2022 4 July 2022 by Adam Corlett and Felicia Odamtten and Lalitha Try This report, the 14th in an annual series, takes a long view of what has happened to household incomes in Britain over recent decades, what has driven periods of growth and stagnation, and the lessons that need to be learned if Britain is to return to stronger income growth in the decade ahead. The report … Continued READ MORE
Universal Credit· Budgets & fiscal events· Living standards· Public spending· Economy and public finances· Welfare Back on target Analysis of the Government’s additional cost of living support 27 May 2022 by Torsten Bell and Mike Brewer and Karl Handscomb and Jonathan Marshall and Lalitha Try The Chancellor yesterday announced a big and well-targeted package of energy bill support. Of the £15 billion of new measures, almost double that announced earlier in the year, twice as much will go to households in the bottom half of the income distribution as the top half. This fills the gaping hole left by the … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty Stressed out April brings an acute squeeze on UK living standards as higher energy bills lead to widespread fuel stress 1 April 2022 by Adam Corlett and Jonathan Marshall April 2022 will see the UK’s cost of living crisis intensify as energy prices jump by more than half overnight, pushing 5 million English households into fuel stress, even accounting for support measures recently announced by the Chancellor. This is not the end, though. Against a backdrop of the highest inflation rate in 40 years … Continued READ MORE
Living standards The Living Standards Outlook 2022 8 March 2022 by Adam Corlett and Lalitha Try Our fourth Living Standards Outlook explores the prospects for household incomes over both the near-term, as rising inflation causes a cost of living crisis, and the longer-term, based on the latest economic forecasts. READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption Higher and higher Averting a looming energy bill crisis 17 January 2022 by Adam Corlett and Lindsay Judge and Jonathan Marshall The higher energy price cap due to be introduced on April 1 will see energy costs jump by more than 50 per cent overnight. As a result, the share of English households experiencing ‘fuel stress’ (i.e. spending more than 10 per cent of their household budget on energy) will triple from 9 per cent to … Continued READ MORE
Universal Credit· Living standards· Welfare Taper cut Analysis of the Autumn Budget changes to Universal Credit 6 November 2021 by Mike Brewer and Karl Handscomb and Lalitha Try This briefing note looks at the changes to Universal Credit (UC) – the main benefit for low-income families – made by the Chancellor in the Autumn 2021 Budget. The reduction in the taper rate from 63 to 55 percent, and increase in the work allowance by £500 a year, represent a significant, permanent increase in … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes· Economic growth Are you better off today? Real income growth under different governments since 1955 3 November 2021 by Adam Corlett In the 1980 presidential contest between the incumbent Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, the latter asked voters “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”. Although far from the only question that voters do or should ask, it is a reasonable question. In the UK, since 1955, real household disposable income per … Continued READ MORE
Universal Credit· Living standards· Incomes· Prices & consumption· Welfare The big squeeze Assessing the changes to family incomes over the next six months 26 September 2021 by Karl Handscomb This winter will see a major income squeeze – and it will be focused on low-to-middle income households. High inflation, especially higher energy bills, will strain many families’ finances. But these pressures will be compounded for over 4 million families when £20 a week is cut from Universal Credit in October 2021. Looking forward, April … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes The Living Standards Audit 2021 1 July 2021 by Karl Handscomb and Kathleen Henehan and Lalitha Try This report is our fifth annual Living Standards Audit. This year we update our analysis of income before Covid-19; assess how incomes are faring during the crisis; and consider factors that will have an important bearing on household incomes in the future. READ MORE
Ventures· Living standards Shock absorbers Innovating to boost financial resilience in Europe 4 May 2021 by Louise Marston This paper reviews the potential for innovation to address financial resilience problems in France, Germany and the UK, emerging from the Covid-19 crisis, and sets out a framework of supply and demand to look at innovative approaches to financial resilience. It applies this framework to France, Germany and the UK, and makes suggestions as to how innovation could best be supported in future. READ MORE
Living standards 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 disposable incomes across the income distribution through to 2024-25. READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards 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 parents and carers participating in the ‘Covid Realities’ research programme to explore the reasons behind, and consequences of, the cost pressures that many have faced since the pandemic began. READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty 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 to our manifesto pledge to reduce child poverty”, while the last Labour manifesto pledged to “eradicate in-work poverty”. So statistics about poverty matter. We need … Continued READ MORE
Covid-19· Living standards· Incomes 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 survey of 6,000-plus working-age adults fielded in mid-September, we take a close look at how incomes, spending and saving changed during both the lockdown (April … Continued READ MORE
Wales· Living standards· Cities and regions 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 its living standards gap with the rest of the UK. READ MORE
