 Facts and figures about UK taxes, benefits and public spending.
Income distribution, poverty and inequality.
Analysing government fiscal forecasts and tax and spending.
Analysis of the fiscal choices an independent Scotland would face.
Case studies that give a flavour of the areas where IFS research has an impact on society.
Reforming the tax system for the 21st century.
A peer-reviewed quarterly journal publishing articles by academics and practitioners.
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The unexpectedly rapid ageing of the population makes it urgent that we design a system that will encourage those who can provide for their own retirement while helping those who reach the end of their working lives with insufficient wealth to sustain what society regards as an acceptable standard of living. These objectives frequently - and perhaps inherently - conflict. In dealing as best they can with the inevitable trade-offs, policymakers need to have three important questions (among many others) in mind.
First, is the financial support offered to pensioners by the state in retirement sustainable in terms of the burden it places on the working population, who pick up most of the bill in the form of taxation? Second, are the mechanisms by which the private financial sector helps people save for retirement sustainable in the sharing of risk between employers and employees? And, third, is the way in which the state and private systems interact sustainable in the sense that the combination promises people a reasonable degree of financial security without creating unduly powerful disincentives for them to work and save? Research in this area looks at these questions. We look in detail at the impact of various government reforms and proposals for reform to the pension system. Search
Employment rates through the recession have been remarkably robust, with today’s ONS figures showing employment remaining close to 30 million. The young have experienced historically low employment rates and high unemployment rates but the employment rate of women aged 60 to 64 has increased as fast since 2010 as it did during the 2000s. An important explanation is the gradual increase in the state pension age for women since 2010, which has led to more older women being in paid work. Without this policy change, the employment rate for 60 to 64 year women would have been broadly flat since 2010.
This paper uses data from the first two years after the change to the female state pension age to estimate the impact of increasing the state pension age from 60 to 61 on the employment of women and their partners.
This paper was given at the Nuffield Foundation on 8th March 2013
This paper suggests a method for estimating the distribution of discount rates using panel data on income and wealth. Using the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing (ELSA), a representative sample of the English popularion over age 50, we general panel date on total consumption from the intertemporal budget constraint.
Today the Government will publish a White Paper detailing plans to replace the current Basic State Pension and State Second Pension with a single state pension. The proposed reforms would be a welcome simplification of the current rather complex rules, particularly in the short run, but they also imply a reduction in the state pensions that most people born after around 1970 can expect to receive from the state. This cut in the generosity of pension benefits for currently young people will help reduce public spending on pensioners in the longer-run as pressures from an ageing population intensify. Reducing state support will also increase the incentives for younger cohorts to save privately for their retirement.
This report examines a range of quantitative evidence to shed light on how current older cohorts of defined contribution (DC) pension fund holders are approaching and deadline with retirement and annuitisation.
This article was published in 'Britain in 2013 - the nation in focus'.
Chapter from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing 2012
Paper given at the 15th Annual Research Conference of De Nederlandsche Bank, Amsterdam
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   Past research into pension reform has contributed to evidence given to government on public service pensions.
Reform of the complex French state pension system was informed by recommendations by IFS researchers.
IFS researchers present and discuss new research on retirement saving with a group of business leaders and policy makers.
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