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 inequality; jobs, skills and pay; housing, wealth and debt; tax and welfare; public finances and the economy. More recently, it has added work streams on trade, net 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

Hard truths

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...

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Hitting the buffers

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation previews the key decisions for Autumn Budget 2026 in the context of another rise in the cost of living. This briefing note previews the key decisions facing the Chancellor at Autumn Budget 2026. It assesses how the economic backdrop is likely to affect the OBR’s fiscal...

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Counting the cost

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....

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Home economics

This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation examines how to put England's broken housing taxes on firmer foundations. This briefing note examines how England taxes residential property and sets out a roadmap for replacing Council Tax and Stamp Duty with a system that is fairer, more efficient, and does not penalise the parts...

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Saving private renters

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...

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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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Upcoming events

22 October 2026

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

Think tank: Resolution Foundation

Fixing broken labour markets

This event hosted by UK think tank the Resolution Foundation discusses what the UK and US can learn from each other. No two labour markets are alike. But in recent years the UK and the US have rhymed. Both have seen decent pay growth for the lowest earners, though by different routes: a rising minimum...

29 October 2026

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

Think tank: Resolution Foundation

Pleasing people and satisfying markets

This event hosted by UK think tank the Resolution Foundation discusses what the Budget has revealed about the state of Britain and Burnham’s government. Budget 2026 need to deliver on three fronts – easing cost of living pressures, taking forward the Prime Minister’s economic agenda and reassuring the markets about the state of the public...

9 November 2026

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

Think tank: Resolution Foundation

Work in progress

This event hosted by UK think tank the Resolution Foundation discusses whether changes in the labour market over the past decade have affected attitudes to work. The UK labour market has changed profoundly over the past decade. The introduction of the National Living Wage, the rise of the gig economy and the legacy of the...