This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation examines rethinking Personal Independence Payments. This report examines how Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in England and Wales should be reformed to better meet its aim: to contribute to additional costs of disability to enable disabled people to live fuller and more active lives. Few would dispute...

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores the impact of five years of high inflation on living standards. This briefing note takes stock of five years of successive cost of living crises, examining how the surge in prices since 2021 has hit household incomes, finances and living standards across the income distribution....

This report from UK think tank the Policy Institute explores public attitudes and misperceptions about care work in the UK. The public significantly underestimate the likelihood of becoming an unpaid carer at some point in their lives, guessing 38% of people in the UK ever will – far below the reality of 65%, according to...

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society explores public perceptions of dignity, security and fairness in the pension system. In 2002, the government established a Pensions Commission to forge a new long-term consensus on retirement provision. Its work was a triumph of long-term consensus-building. Two decades on, however, that consensus is due for...

This report from UK think tank Re:State calls for the Government to scrap Jobcentre Plus and create a new model for employment support and benefits administration. Britain’s employment support system is failing the people who need it most. Its backbone – Jobcentre Plus – remains a highly centralised, one-size-fits-all institution, despite the importance of local...

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation makes the case for the Government unfreezing Local Housing Allowance. Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which caps how much support is provided through the social security system to low-income private renters, was last relinked to the 30th percentile of rents in April 2024, and has been frozen...

This report from UK think tank Re:State examines international lessons for reforming sickness and disability benefits. Britain’s welfare system is failing working-age adults with a disability. It is not working for the people it supports and it is not working for those who fund it. Britain’s extra-cost benefit takes a one-size-fits-all approach that leaves those...

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 Bright Blue proposes a new deal for the self-employed. The UK is currently home to 4.57 million self-employed: a number which has grown consistently over the past four decades. Yet, despite their growing numbers, the self-employed have access to a much poorer safety net than employees. This is even...

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 Social Market Foundation explores the challenges and barriers frontline services face in identifying gambling related harm. Gambling is a common practice in Britain, but can be highly addictive. This briefing explores the challenges and barriers frontline services face in identifying gambling related harms, drawing on existing literature alongside...

This report from UK think tank Re:State calls on local authorities to implement a cross-cutting, place-based strategy for the adult social care workforce. Re:State’s new report recommends an immediate, deliverable, and locally-led approach to addressing the adult social care workforce crisis. While the sector’s underfunding is a key driver of its chronic workforce issues, as...

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society discusses building the national care service. Three years ago, the Fabian Society set out what a National Care Service should look like in a research report, Support Guaranteed. A year later, in its manifesto, Labour drew on the ideas in Support Guaranteed and committed to a...

This report from UK think tank the Institute for Policy Research explores how the different elements of scheme design in England are affecting UC claimants who work. Eligibility, entitlement and assessment criteria for Council Tax Reduction (CTR) – a means-tested discount on council tax for low-income, working-age people – have been left to the discretion...

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation examines a state alternative to the bank of Mum and Dad. The Citizens Advance would give people a choice – receive a lump sum now in exchange for postponing the point at which they start receiving their state pension. Only those who had garnered 10...

Ahead of the Spring Budget we look at how Universal Credit could be reformed in the recovery from Covid-19. For Universal Credit to provide an adequate safety net it must be properly funded By Paul Hackett (The Smith Institute) If Universal Credit is to provide an adequate safety net it must be properly funded. Making...