Briefing notes

The tax and benefit system has undergone significant reform since 2010, with large cuts to working-age benefits, a rise in the main rate of VAT, increases in the rate of the state pension, and reductions in direct tax, including a big rise in the income tax personal allowance. In this briefing note ...

Labour’s 2019 general election manifesto pledged to “bring rail, mail, water and energy” alongside “the broadband-relevant parts of BT” into public ownership. In this report we set out the scale of this proposed programme of nationalisation and some of the key issues it would raise.

Relative in-work poverty has been steadily rising since 1994–95, meaning that the incomes of poorer working households have not been keeping up with those of middle-income households.

Ahead of the upcoming General Election, there has again been extensive discussion about the role that the private sector plays within the National Health Service (NHS). Labour has vowed to ‘end and reverse privatisation in the NHS in the next parliament’, signalling an ambition to end – or at ...

The Labour Party plans to increase income tax for individuals with annual taxable incomes over £80,000. Under the current system, income tax is payable on incomes above the personal allowance of £12,500 a year. The 40% higher rate becomes payable at £50,000, and the 45% additional rate kicks in ...

This Election Briefing Note provides a summary of the current higher education funding system in England and investigates the two big reform packages that are currently on the table going into the 2019 General Election.

Employing public sector workers to help deliver public services is a major part of what government does. The number of workers employed by the government and how much they are paid matters not just for those individuals and their families, but also for the public finances and for the public ...

Support for childcare and the early years is shaping up to be a major issue in this election campaign. To date, both the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats have promised enormous increases in the generosity of England’s free childcare system,[1] with money for extra funding per hour, extra ...

While the benefit system has undergone substantial reform over the past 10 years, there remain significant changes due to take place over the next parliament.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis and associated recession, government borrowing soared to more than 10% of national income. Borrowing has since been reduced through a combination of net tax rises, cuts to the generosity of the working-age social security system and cuts to public ...