Living standards· Incomes· Tax· Welfare Happy new tax year 2026 Putting tax and social security changes in the context of rising energy bills 2 April 2026 by Lalitha Try The start of April marks the beginning of the new tax year, meaning households will face a wide range of tax, benefit and utility bill changes. Benefit changes in April will boost incomes for the poorest families, particularly the removal of the two-child limit, which will give back £4,560 this year to the affected families. … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Bye bye baby Assessing Britain’s falling birth rate since the early 2010s 1 April 2026 by Charlie McCurdy This briefing explores Britain’s recent baby bust and whether it should be a cause for concern for policymakers. Most developed countries are grappling with a falling birth rate, and the UK is no different. There have always been a range of reasons that people postpone having children or choose not to have them at all … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption Power struggle Assessing the options for supporting families with the rise in the cost of energy 18 March 2026 by Alex Clegg and Ruth Curtice and Zachary Leather and Jonathan Marshall and James Smith and Lalitha Try Conflict in the Middle East has driven oil prices from around $70 to $100 per barrel, with wholesale gas prices also rising by over 60 per cent. The duration and severity of the ongoing war are uncertain, but the longer it continues the more likely it is that both petrol prices and energy bills rise, … Continued READ MORE
Net zero· Living standards· Prices & consumption Power cut What the Government’s energy bill discount means for households, and what comes next 21 February 2026 by Jonathan Marshall Next week, Ofgem is expected to announce that the Q2 2026 energy price cap will be nearly £120 below current levels. This reduction is overwhelmingly driven by the Government’s energy bill discount, which will deploy approximately £6.9 billion of public spending over the next three years to lower one of British families’ biggest expenses. The … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Living Standards Outlook 2026 10 February 2026 by Alex Clegg and Louise Murphy and James Smith We present a living standards outlook for non-pensioner families, highlighting strong income growth over 2026-27, driven by benefit changes, but a weak longer-term outlook. It argues that a coherent strategy for improving living standards must include action on productivity, social security and the cost of living. READ MORE
Net zero· Living standards Hot take What to make of the Government’s Warm Homes Plan 22 January 2026 by Zachary Leather and Jonathan Marshall January 2026 saw the eventual release of the Warm Homes Plan. However, the Plan will not benefit all households in need. This Spotlight reveals that a reliance on financial transactions (government-backed loans) risks favouring better-off families. And while regulation is being used to deliver significant change in the private- and socially-rented sectors, Ministers have shied away from stronger action that could accelerate wider progress, such as tougher rules that would enable the cost of key technologies like heat pumps to fall quicker. READ MORE
Living standards· Economy and public finances New Year Outlook 2026 Early and encouraging signs of a mild zombie apocalypse 5 January 2026 by Ruth Curtice and Greg Thwaites What a difference a year doesn’t make. This time last year the Government had just announced huge tax rises, having previously said they weren’t coming; trade wonks were wondering what Donald Trump’s next tariff policy would be; and Labour politicians awaited the May elections with trepidation. Yet this sense of déjà vu is only part of the story. Beneath the surface, several things have changed in ways that will matter for the years ahead: the political system has fragmented; new technologies are starting to affect how work is done; and the UK is edging towards a demographic milestone not seen in modern times. This New Year Outlook looks back at some of the less-remarked developments of 2025, and forward to what they mean for the economy in 2026 and beyond. READ MORE
Universal Credit· Living standards· Incomes Catching up? Benefit uprating policy for April 2026 22 October 2025 by Lalitha Try September’s inflation data shows that the annual rate of CPI inflation was 3.8 per cent, the same rate it was in August 2025, but more than twice its September 2024 level. This grim news of inflation remaining high came with something of a silver lining as September inflation is usually used to uprate most benefits … Continued READ MORE
Living standards The Resolution Foundation at 20 Two decades of analysis, policy and change 18 September 2025 by Ruth Curtice and Resolution Foundation In this anniversary review, we look back at how living standards have evolved since the Foundation was set up, indulge in a little nostalgia regarding the first two decades of our own institutional life, and – more importantly – consider what the opportunities and challenges facing the UK mean for our future work. As we … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Labour market Opening doors How to incentivise employers to create more opportunities for disabled workers 24 July 2025 by Ben Baumberg Geiger and Louise Murphy Improving employment outcomes for disabled people is essential not just for raising living standards, but also for supporting economic growth. To increase the employment of disabled people, the report proposes a new employer-focused strategy built on four principles: reimbursement, reporting, reintegration and recruitment. READ MORE
Unsung Britain· Living standards· Prices & consumption The bare necessities Unpacking the rising cost of essentials for low-to-middle income Britain 30 June 2025 by Simon Pittaway and Lalitha Try This briefing note examines how prices have changed over time in three key areas of spending: energy, food and transport. We also propose policy changes that can make essential costs more affordable for low-to-middle income households, and improve their incomes. READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes The Living Standards Outlook 2025 26 June 2025 by Adam Corlett This is our seventh annual Living Standards Outlook. It looks at how incomes have fared over the decade so far and what may lie ahead for different groups, given current economic forecasts and the Government’s tax and benefit policies READ MORE
Living standards· Welfare Renew and improve Setting up the Household Support Fund for the future 22 May 2025 by Alex Clegg and Ruth Patrick and Jed Meers and Mike Brewer and Uisce Jordan and Millie Light and Rhiannon Simms and Hayley Bennett and Beth Watts-Cobbe and Joe Pardoe This briefing note, part of the Safety Nets project, assesses how the Household Support Fund could be improved in a longer-term settlement, through analysis of administrative data and interviews with local authorities and recipients of the scheme. READ MORE
Universal Credit· Living standards· Welfare No workaround Assessing the impact of the Spring 2025 disability and incapacity benefit reforms on employment 20 May 2025 by Louise Murphy and Greg Thwaites In March, the Government released its Pathways to Work Green Paper, setting out a package of welfare reforms that amounted to a net reduction in spending of £4.8 billion in 2029-30. On the Government’s own figures, 3.2 million families will lose out, 250,000 people will fall into poverty, and 700,000 families will fall further below the poverty line. These benefit cuts were accompanied by a significant increase in employment support costing a cumulative £1.9 billion between 2026-27 and 2029-30 but with over half of that not coming until the final year. READ MORE
Living standards· Public spending At your service? Why the 2025 Spending Review must reckon with the distribution of public service use 9 April 2025 by Camron Aref-Adib and Emily Fry and Zachary Leather Post-Covid, the British state is estimated to have reached a historic high of 45 per cent of the size of the economy. Past strategies to cope with increasing pressure on public services such as cutting defence to help fund growing health and welfare spending, and cuts to ‘unprotected’ public services after the financial crisis, have … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Budgets & fiscal events· Welfare Unsung Britain bears the brunt Putting the 2025 Spring Statement in context 27 March 2025 by Camron Aref-Adib and Mike Brewer and Molly Broome and Alex Clegg and Nye Cominetti and Adam Corlett and Ruth Curtice and Emily Fry and Zachary Leather and Jonathan Marshall and Cara Pacitti and Simon Pittaway and Hannah Slaughter and James Smith and Imogen Stone and Greg Thwaites and Lalitha Try This briefing note analyses the choices the Government has made in the context of an awkward backdrop to the 2025 Spring Statement. READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty Turning the tide What it will take to reduce child poverty in the UK 26 February 2025 by Alex Clegg and Adam Corlett Ahead of the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy, which promises to bring about “an enduring reduction in child poverty”, this report looks at what might be needed to achieve this welcome goal in the face of significant headwinds. READ MORE
Unsung Britain· Living standards· Incomes Money, money, money The shifting mix of income sources for poorer households over the last 30 years 17 February 2025 by Lalitha Try This briefing note examines the components of income for low-to-middle income families. It considers how income from earnings and benefits have changed over the last 30 years, and how fixed costs including taxes and housing costs have reduced the income available to low-to-middle income families. READ MORE
Net zero· Living standards· Prices & consumption Sunny day savings Assessing Government support for solar panels 13 February 2025 by Zachary Leather The new Government’s plan to decarbonise the electricity system brings with it the lofty aim of tripling total solar capacity by the end of the decade. Although much of this will be driven by large-scale installations, ministers are also hoping for a “rooftop revolution” that could see millions more homes topped with solar panels by … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Prices & consumption Whose price is it anyway? Comparing the spending power of low-to-middle income families in Britain and abroad 13 January 2025 by Zaynah Janan and Simon Pittaway A long-standing finding is that British households on low-to-middle incomes are poorer than their counterparts in many advanced economies.[1] This result comes from comparing the incomes of this group to price levels in their respective countries. But these price measures typically reflect the spending of all families, not just those on low-to-middle incomes. In this … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Public pivot How a growing state will shape the living standards outlook for 2025 7 January 2025 by Alex Clegg and Adam Corlett and Louise Murphy and Simon Pittaway and Imogen Stone and Greg Thwaites 2025 will be a year with a bigger role for the state. Jeremy Hunt cut taxes in his last two Budgets and planned to pay for them with real-terms cuts to public spending in many areas. Rachel Reeves’s October Budget reversed these plans, pivoting to increasing spending on public services as a share of the … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Inequality & poverty Working poverty out The role of employment and progression in a child poverty strategy 6 January 2025 by Mike Brewer and Alex Clegg The Government is committed to releasing a child poverty strategy later this year. As part of this, Ministers will want to consider how best parental employment can help boost family incomes. But the mid-2020s present a different landscape for child poverty and parental employment from when the last Labour Government crafted its child poverty strategy. … Continued READ MORE
Unsung Britain· Living standards· Demographics Unsung Britain The changing economic circumstances of the poorer half of Britain 13 November 2024 by Mike Brewer and Molly Broome and Nye Cominetti and Adam Corlett and Charlie McCurdy and Louise Murphy and Cara Pacitti and Hannah Slaughter and James Smith and Lalitha Try This report marks the launch of Unsung Britain, a one-year research programme designed to understand the economic circumstances of today’s low-to-middle income families and how these have changed in recent decades, with support from JPMorganChase. READ MORE
Living standards· Incomes The Living Standards Outlook 2024 29 August 2024 by Alex Clegg and Adam Corlett This is our sixth annual Living Standards Outlook. It provides an assessment of incomes, poverty and inequality as things stand in 2024-25, and projections up to 2029-30 using economic forecasts and policy assumptions inherited by the new Government. It also explores how three scenarios, based on an optimistic outcome for earnings growth and two illustrative … Continued READ MORE
General Election 2024· Living standards Hard times Assessing household incomes since 2010 28 June 2024 by Adam Corlett and Lalitha Try This briefing note is part of the Resolution Foundation’s ‘Need to Know Election 2024’ series and examines how income growth, poverty and inequality have changed over the last Parliament and since 2010. At the General Election, living standards growth should be on the agenda for any party wishing to form the next government. This is … Continued READ MORE
