Resolution Foundation

The Resolution Foundation is an independent think-tank focused on improving the living standards of those on low-to-middle incomes. There are eight million low-to-middle income families in the UK, including twelve million adults and nearly seven million children. We work across a wide range of economic and social policy, combining our core purpose with a commitment to analytical rigour.

The Foundation’s established work programme includes incomes and inequalityjobsskills and payhousingwealth and debttax and welfarepublic finances and the economy. More recently, it has added work streams on tradenet zero and productivity, as well as covering these issues through both an intergenerational and cities lens.

Since 2018, we have calculated the real Living Wage – a voluntary hourly pay rate that is based on what families need to get by.

Between 2021 and 2023, the Resolution Foundation collaborated with the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics on The Economy 2030 Inquiry. The Inquiry brought together leaders from business, academia and policy making, in both the UK and US, to both diagnose the causes of the UK’s poor economic performance in recent decades, and to set out a new economic strategy for the 2020s. Over the course of the project, the Resolution Foundation published over 90 reports, briefing notes and comment pieces, examining the change that the UK is living through, and setting out a plan for successfully navigating that change. In December 2023, this work culminated in the publication of the Inquiry’s final report, Ending Stagnation.


Latest reports

Second wind

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation examines how green industries can contribute to local economic growth. This report assesses the potential for clean industries to deliver local economic growth by zooming in on two areas with a genuine reason for thinking they can benefit from the transition to green energy: Aberdeen and...

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Thin end of the wedge

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation puts the tax burden on middle earners in an international and historical context. Taxes have risen a lot since the election with policy measures estimated to add around £70 billion to annual receipts by the end of the decade. So in this spotlight we dig into...

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All by myself

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores the change in time spent alone over the last decade. Time spent alone has risen up the public and political agenda, reflected in debates about the ‘relationship recession’, social media use and more working from home. But these underlying societal shifts have not affected time...

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Billing me softly

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation looks at designing targeted energy discounts. Less than a month after Britain’s new Prime Minister took office, and despite a day one decision to cut VAT from electricity bills, yet another escalation in the war in Iran means that energy bills have not left the political...

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Housing Outlook Q3 2026

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores the housing outlook in Q3 of 2026. Britain’s new Prime Minister has put “council housing” at the heart of his programme for government. The case for building more affordable homes is strong: near-record numbers of families in England are living in temporary accommodation today, and...

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Much ado about PuFins

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...

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The great escape

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...

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Take a chance on me

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores how employers can be incentivised to employ NEETs. This briefing note considers how public policy can best incentivise employers to hire more young people in the UK today. We estimate the gross cost to the Exchequer of each additional full-time job created by a range...

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Leaving EU behind

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores how Britain lost its trading edge and whether Brexit is to blame. This briefing note unpacks the UK’s export performance in the decade since the Brexit vote. In the five years since 2019, the period in which Britain formally left the EU, UK exports have...

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They’re coming home

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation explores the living standards of younger Millennials and Gen Z. This briefing note provides an assessment of the living standards of younger Millennials and Gen Z, given the increasing number of people in their twenties who live with their parents, and what policymakers should do to...

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Housing Outlook Q2 2026

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation launches their research programme on the future of the private rented sector. Welcome to our latest Housing Outlook, launching a Resolution Foundation research programme on the future of the private rented sector (PRS). The PRS has more than doubled in size since the turn of the...

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See it. Say it. Sort it.

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation sets out how the Government can reset Britain’s economic policy. This briefing note sets out how the Government can reset Britain’s economic policy following disastrous local election results, arguing that an honest assessment of where the country stands is the indispensable starting point for repairing its...

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Lost in transition

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation examines why the UK NEET rate is high and rising. This report investigates why the UK’s NEET rate has been rising since 2019, and why it has long been higher than in many other countries. After falling for much of the 2010s, the proportion of 18-24-year-olds...

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The macroeconomic policy outlook Q2 2026

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation discusses the macroeconomic policy outlook in the second quarter of 2026. Since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran began nearly two months ago, global energy markets have been volatile. But the shock facing Britain has so far been smaller than that which followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:...

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Bye bye baby

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation assesses Britain’s falling birth rate since the early 2010s. This briefing explores Britain’s recent baby bust and whether it should be a cause for concern for policymakers. Most developed countries are grappling with a falling birth rate, and the UK is no different. There have always...

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Upcoming events

24 September 2026

Location: Online / Resolution Foundation, 2 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9AA

Think tank: Resolution Foundation

Britain’s big repair job

This event hosted by UK think tank the Resolution Foundation discusses fixing our broken taxes on housing. The UK’s raises more from residential property taxation than other advanced economies. But the problem is that our two main taxes on housing – Council Tax and Stamp Duty – are terribly designed, grossly unfair and economically harmful....