Living standards Between One Nation Conservatism and Corbyn: where next for the Lib Dems and social justice? Tuesday 22 September 2015 As the Liberal Democrats seek to rebuild the party following heavy losses at the last election, what role should issues such as low pay, taxation, health and welfare reform play in the party’s policy priorities? At a Resolution Foundation event, Norman Lamb MP set out his ideas on the party’s approach to social justice, followed … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Getting ready for a higher wage floor: Tackling Britain’s low pay and productivity challenge Tuesday 15 September 2015 The extent of low pay across Britain has barely moved in the last 20 years, but is likely to change rapidly over the next five as a result of the new ‘National Living Wage’. But without productivity growth, some employers in low-paying sectors could struggle with a fast-rising wage floor. What are the key productivity … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Where next for the Living Wage? Thursday 3 September 2015 The Chancellor’s new ‘National Living Wage’ announced in the Budget will mean a welcome pay rise for low paid workers. But implementing it will be a big challenge for many employers and on its own secure it won’t a decent standard of living for millions of working families. What does this higher wage floor mean … Continued READ MORE
Labour market The complete works: Targeting full employment in modern Britain Monday 20 July 2015 The pursuit of full employment is back in fashion, with all the main parties committed to pursuing it. But what would full employment look like in Britain today, and what are the trade-offs in reaching this goal? Which hard-to reach groups need to be brought into the labour market, and what role can public policy play in … Continued READ MORE
Monetary policy· Economy and public finances· Macroeconomic policy Weathering the storm: the recent past, present and future of UK monetary policy Tuesday 14 July 2015 Resolution Foundation hosted David Miles’s outgoing speech as a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. A member of the Monetary Policy Committee – the body responsible for setting the Bank of England’s base rate – since 2009, David Miles has been a key policy maker during a truly fascinating and tumultuous period for … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Benefiting everyone? Making Universal Credit fit for the next decade Monday 8 June 2015 Over eight million households will be eligible for Universal Credit when it is fully up and running. But with the UK labour market having transformed in recent decades, is this once-in-a-generation reform being designed to deal with current and future welfare challenges, such as growing in-work poverty? Will it achieve its goals and prove to … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Time to pay up: Securing stronger, shared wage growth Thursday 26 March 2015 After the longest fall in modern history real wages are finally turning the corner. But the outlook for pay remains highly uncertain. Productivity remains on the floor. Automation and globalisation generate pessimism about our pay prospects. Others feel that the wage-gloom is overdone. As pay starts to rise what can be done to secure widely … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Looking through the hourglass: Hollowing out of the UK jobs market pre- and post-crisis Monday 23 March 2015 In common with other advanced economies, the UK has been characterised as having an ‘hourglass’ labour market in recent decades, with employment growth proving strongest in low and high paying sectors and weakest in the middle. But what are the factors behind this polarisation – globalisation, education, the rise of the robots? And has the … Continued READ MORE
Living standards Time to catch up? Living standards in the next parliament Thursday 12 March 2015 After the deepest squeeze in living memory, household incomes are finally recovering. But when can we expect living standards to return to their previous peak and what is the outlook for the next Parliament? At an event at the Resolution Foundation’s central London headquarters, CBI Director-General John Cridland gave a speech on these issues setting … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Higher minimum wages in big cities: Are there lessons for the UK from the US? Wednesday 4 March 2015 From San Francisco to Seattle, fierce political battles have been fought – and won – across the US recently in favour of minimum wages higher than the federal rate. But what are the economic arguments behind higher City-wide minimum wage rates? Have they proved successful and what are the drawbacks? And what, if anything, can … Continued READ MORE
Labour market As if we cared – the costs and benefits of a living wage for social care workers Tuesday 3 March 2015 There is a growing realisation that higher quality care in an ageing society requires a better deal for the social care workforce. Low pay, at times below the National Minimum Wage, and the poor working conditions associated with it often act as barriers to delivering the quality of care that people deserve, and place significant pressure on care workers. While … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Today’s workers, tomorrow’s retirement problem Wednesday 11 February 2015 The proportion of people saving into a workplace pension is rising again after decades of decline. But too few people are saving enough for an adequate retirement income. How can people be persuaded to save not spend when wages are already stretched? Are there cheaper, fairer alternatives to the £35bn spent on pension tax relief? … Continued READ MORE
Housing The home stretch – coping with high housing costs Monday 8 December 2014 Buying or renting a home in many parts of the country is a financial challenge for families on modest incomes. How then do these families continue to live in some of the most expensive parts of the country? What coping strategies can make the seemingly unaffordable financially possible, at what personal cost to the families … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Tax cuts in tough times – who really gains? Monday 1 December 2014 The three main political parties have all pledged to cut taxes with the stated aim of helping low and middle income households in the next parliament. But who really benefits from these policies and how much will they cost? The Resolution Foundation presented new analysis of the distribution of gains under the different parties’ approaches, and … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances A Parliament of pain? – The fiscal choices beyond 2015 and the implications for cuts, taxes, investment and debt Tuesday 25 November 2014 With roughly half of the fiscal consolidation still to come, the state of the public finances will remain a defining theme of the next parliament. Beyond the first year of the next parliament there is little clarity as to how fiscal balance will be restored. However, the emerging positions from each of the main political … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Escaping low pay: how to break away from in-work poverty Tuesday 11 November 2014 Low pay and social mobility are recognised as serious problems across the political spectrum, yet there is a lack of understanding of the extent of pay immobility and what can be done about it. On 11 November the Resolution Foundation presented the findings of our final report on pay progression. It examines the characteristics of individuals, households, … Continued READ MORE
Labour market Bigger, stronger, riskier, poorer? Understanding the new post-crisis labour market Tuesday 21 October 2014 The resilience of the labour market at the height of the downturn and its rapid recovery in recent years has been arguably the brightest spot in an otherwise troubling period for the UK economy. But years of rising employment have yet to feed through into productivity gains and real wage growth. The UK labour market … Continued READ MORE
Living standards How should we share the gain and the pain in the next Parliament? Monday 6 October 2014 After years of stagnating living standards it is vital that we share in the gains of economic recovery and fairly distribute the burden of eliminating the deficit during the next parliament. At this Resolution Foundation event David Laws MP (Minister of State for Schools and for the Cabinet Office) and Tom Brake MP (Deputy Leader … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Universal Credit – how do we make it work? Tuesday 30 September 2014 Universal Credit represents the most significant transformation of our welfare system, merging six separate in and out of work benefits into one. While the principles of simplification and making work pay are widely supported, questions remain about UC’s ability to deliver on these original intentions. The Resolution Foundation has recently kicked off an independent review … Continued READ MORE
Living standards How should we share the gain and the pain in the next Parliament? Tuesday 23 September 2014 After years of stagnating living standards it is vital that we share in the gains of economic recovery and fairly distribute the burden of eliminating the deficit during the next parliament. At this Resolution Foundation event Rachel Reeves MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions) discussed the Labour agenda for generating shared growth and … Continued READ MORE
Housing Living in the House of Debt Wednesday 3 September 2014 Very high levels of household debt have been a stubbornly persistent feature of many developed economies – including those of the UK and the US – before, during and since the financial crisis. The Resolution Foundation has led UK analysis of how this debt may carry severe consequences for many families and for the wider … Continued READ MORE
Welfare Where next for childcare policy? Learning from the 2004 childcare strategy Wednesday 4 June 2014 In 2004, the Government launched a 10-Year Childcare Strategy that set the policy agenda for a decade. The event will launch the Family and Childcare Trust’s review of the achievements of the last ten years of childcare policy, developments under two successive administrations and identify key policy lessons for the future. The Rt Hon Margaret … Continued READ MORE
Housing Dealing with debt – The prospect of rising interest rates and the UK’s household debt problem Tuesday 3 June 2014 While many have benefited from years of rock-bottom interest rates the burden of household debt has not greatly declined since the financial crisis and now the era of ultra-cheap borrowing is likely to be drawing to a close. A large swathe of households remains highly exposed to the effects of rising interest rates. Yet while … Continued READ MORE
Housing Rachel Reeves MP – A better deal for savers: helping ordinary workers secure decent living standards in retirement Thursday 29 May 2014 The struggle to set aside savings and the increasing difficulty that many working people find in securing a decent income at retirement is one of the less noticed but potentially most far-reaching issues in the living standards debate. In her first major speech on pensions policy since becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Work and … Continued READ MORE
Economy and public finances Building a shared recovery – lessons from the downturn Wednesday 14 May 2014 A speech by the Rt Hon Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Responses: Alison Wolf – Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College, London Paul Johnson – Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies READ MORE
