Labour market· Childcare· Welfare Mums hold the key to getting Britain working again Boosting workforce participation in the 2020s 25 February 2023 by Louise Murphy Britain has built up a lot of economic problems over the past 15 years – weak investment and productivity growth, contributing to an unprecedented pay squeeze and stagnating living standards. But there has been one metric at which we have excelled – getting more people into work. Sadly this success story has been undone somewhat since the … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Childcare· Scotland· Welfare A welcome boost for ‘just about managing’ families in Scotland 27 June 2019 by Adam Corlett Yesterday started with a bleak assessment by the Child Poverty Action Group of the impact of ongoing welfare cuts – specifically how the two-child limit on support, which began to be implemented in 2017, is set to push 300,000 children into poverty. But there was better news for Scottish parents later in the day, as … Continued READ MORE
Living standards· Childcare· Welfare CB40: Happy 40th birthday to child benefit! But will it last another twenty? 2 April 2019 by Adam Corlett Yesterday, the minimum wage celebrated its 20th birthday. Today, child benefit is having a 40th birthday bash. But, as this analysis shows, it’s become a somewhat modest affair, with (record) low generosity, fewer people invited than in earlier years, and particularly complicated arrangements. So today is a good time to step back and take stock … Continued READ MORE
Labour market· Childcare· Welfare How big is the gender parenting gap, and is it improving? 8 March 2019 by Adam Corlett A lot has been written about the gender pay gap, with the typical hourly pay of women in full-time work 9 per cent below that of men – down from 17 per cent two decades ago. But there is another gap lying behind the gender pay gap that gets far less attention, despite being just … Continued READ MORE
Childcare· Inequality & poverty· Welfare A history lesson wouldn’t hurt – at least when it comes to child poverty 24 July 2018 by Torsten Bell and Adam Corlett This blog originally appeared on Times Red Box. A few years back there was an outbreak of national angst about no one studying history any more. The House of Lords even managed a debate on it. That worry seems a long way down the list of concerns these days, when everyone has the latest Donald … Continued READ MORE
Childcare· Welfare A hat-trick of childcare policies are being rolled out this Autumn. But is the current approach an expensive own goal? 28 September 2017 by David Finch Childcare support is all the rage. As well as being the focus of one of the key policy announcements at Labour Conference this week, the government is rolling out not one but three new policies this Autumn. Even in these austere times, the government is spending £2bn on the introduction of Tax Free Childcare and … Continued READ MORE
Childcare· Welfare· Political parties and elections Childcare is a new election battleground, so why do none of the parties get it? 29 August 2014 by Vidhya Alakeson We have lost our way on childcare. No party has set out a vision for where we are trying to get as a country. Parties compete on who can invest more without any sense of an overall plan. The result is a fragmented, increasingly complex system that still expects parents to pay a higher price … Continued READ MORE
