This report from UK think tank City-REDI offers a lens through which to understand the landscape of university-based civic and policy engagement in the UK. A new report by Professor Bec Riley introduces a new typology for understanding how UK universities organise and deliver civic, policy and place-based engagement. Drawing on case studies from across...

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society makes the case for building democratic accountability into Britain’s pension system. Over recent decades, economic power in the UK has shifted away from democratic institutions and towards markets, corporations and financial actors. Governments remain accountable for economic outcomes, yet many of the decisions that shape wages,...

This report from UK think tank Centre for Cities explores how Britain’s big cities can build more homes near train stations. Large British cities are missing millions of homes within their inner city ‘urban cores’ as they have lower densities than their international peers in France and Japan. The Government is right to change policy...

This report from UK think tank City-REDI examines the geographic inequalities in young people who are not in employment, education or training across the UK. This report argues that the UK's rising NEET rate is not just a youth skills or health issue, but a geographical and economic one, with large differences between local areas...

This report from UK think tank Centre for Cities explores how other G7 countries address geography in minimum wage policy. The UK has one of the highest minimum wages in the OECD. The National Living Wage is now £12.71 an hour, meeting the Government’s target of two-thirds of median national earnings. In previous research we...

This report from UK think tank City-REDI explores the economic and environmental challenges facing one of the UK's most distinctive rural regions. In his new report for the LPIP Hub, Professor Calvin Jones explores the economic, demographic and environmental challenges facing one of the UK's most distinctive rural regions. The report highlights an ageing population,...

This report from UK think tank Carnegie UK examines affordability and financial resilience across the UK and its four jurisdictions in 2026.  The cost-of-living crisis has been a defining feature of public discussion across the UK in recent years. When people cannot afford essentials, cope with unexpected costs or participate fully in society, the effects...

This report from UK think tank City-REDI explores why some English city-regions turn devolved powers into effective strategy while others struggle to get off the ground. This report examines how institutional capacity, leadership and governance shape the success of devolution and place-based development in England. The report revisits the concept of institutional thickness, arguing that...

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation examines how the UK’s public financial institutions can unlock billions for investment. This briefing note examines the UK’s public financial institutions – affectionately nicknamed the ‘PuFins’ – and asks whether they could help the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, square his commitment to the existing fiscal...

This report from UK think tank Theos reveals Britain does not pay enough attention to the profound transformation that comes with becoming a mother. Motherhood, Inside Out explores the profound process of matrescence – the transition of becoming a mother. Like adolescence, matrescence is a period of far-reaching physical, emotional, psychological, social, political and spiritual...

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores why Britain is stuck in a fiscal funk and how we can break free. This report is the first in a series on the size and shape of the state, and how the public finances can be better managed in an era of low growth...

This report from UK think tank City-REDI argues that fiscal devolution works when it is designed as 'capability devolution' and fails when it is merely risk transfer. The Chancellor's Growth Plan commits to 'unlocking growth in every part of Britain' and Andy Burnham has highlighted the same direction of travel in his speech on 29th...

This report from UK think tank City-REDI examines why the UK remains one of the most interregionally unequal countries in the industrialised world. This report examines why, after more than four decades of national policy, the UK remains one of the most interregionally unequal countries in the industrialised world. Drawing on the academic discipline of...

This report from UK think tanks Onward and the Centre for Policy Studies brings renewed focus to London’s housing crisis and the consequences of failing to address it. London is failing to build the homes it needs. In 2024/25, construction started on just 4,170 homes in the capital, even as the population grew by close...

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society explores policies to raise living standards. The US-Israeli war on Iran has prompted yet another shock to the budgets of British households, with potentially dire consequences for living standards. This is the second such shock in five years; but the cost-of-living crisis has been decades in...

Ahead of the Spring Budget we asked a range of think tanks what would be the one thing they would focus on and include. Don't overcomplicate the cost of living response, just give people cash By Dr Aveek Bhattacharya (Social Market Foundation) In January, with inflation growing and the energy price cap set to rise,...

'Levelling up' has become one of the big agenda items for this government but how can it be helped by industrial strategy? Use the Spending Review and R&D Place Strategy to increase support for business innovation in lagging regions By James Blagden (Onward) In recent decades the UK’s regions have diverged so much that we...