Kate joined the IFS as a Research Economist in 2020. She works on two main areas: local government finance in England, and higher education. Her research also includes the distribution of spending on public services across places, and across people. Before joining the IFS she worked as an economist at the Cabinet Office.
Education
MSc (Distinction) Economics, University of Manchester, 2017
BA (1st Class) Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford, 2016
The past nine months have seen huge swings in households’ spending, both in total and across various goods and services. In this briefing note, we analyse the geographical patterns of these changes.
Last week saw significant political debate about the amount of extra funding being given to English councils moving into tier 3 (‘very high alert’) of the government’s COVID alert system. Most of the attention focused on funding to help pay for additional business support measures – such as grants for businesses legally able to open but facing big falls in demand – on top of those being funded directly by central government.
The COVID-19 crisis is having immediate effects on councils’ budgets as a result of increases in spending on local services and reductions in income from sales, fees and charges and commercial activities.
The COVID-19 crisis is increasing councils’ spending and reducing their incomes. This report analyses councils’ forecasts of these pressures and potential policy responses.
This report looks at the extent to which these risks vary and the degree to which they are correlated, focusing on LAs’ revenues and financial resilience. It also briefly discusses the extra funding that central government has made available to them to help them address these risks in the current financial year.
