IPPR

IPPR is an independent charity working towards a fairer, greener and more prosperous society. We are researchers, communicators, and policy experts creating tangible progressive change, turning ideas that seem impossible into common sense realities. Working across the UK, IPPR, IPPR North and IPPR Scotland are deeply connected to the people of our nations and regions, and the issues they face.  

We have helped shape national conversations and progressive policy change for more than 30 years. From making the early case for the minimum wage and tackling regional inequality, to proposing a windfall tax on energy companies, IPPR’s research and policy work has responded directly to the crises facing society. 

Today, our work drives social, democratic, environmental and economic progress by securing: 

  • Well-funded and reformed public services (health, care, housing, education) and social security that ensures everyone has access to the basics they need to flourish. 
  • A renewed democracy which gives everyone a voice in society, ensures equal access to our rights and passes power down to people, places, and communities. 
  • A modern, green economy that delivers prosperity and justice to all people and places through actively shaping markets for social good and tackling concentrations of wealth and power. 

Our major projects all aim to support this. IPPR’s Centre for Economic Justice is reshaping the debate on the UK economy, building on our landmark commission report, Prosperity and Justice. Our Fair Transition Unit looks at how to achieve net zero and restore nature both quickly and fairly, expanding on the findings of our cross-party Environmental Justice Commission. Through our Commission on Health and Prosperity we are making the case that good health is a keystone of a strong economy; and we are addressing the challenge of place-based inequalities through our work on progressive ‘levelling up’. 

IPPR receives funding from a wide range of sources including leading trusts and foundations, and has been awarded the highest rating (A) for transparency from Open Democracy’s Who Funds You? project.


Latest reports

State of the North 2024: Charting the course for a decade of renewal

This report from UK think tank IPPR assesses our current course and proposes five priority areas for a decade of renewal. The North’s communities are ambitious for a better future, but face systemic and pronounced inequalities. Gaps in power, wealth, opportunity, and health result in shorter, sicker, less fulfilling lives. Regional inequality is a major...

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Snakes and ladders: Tackling precarity in social security and employment support

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at tackling precarity in social security and employment support. Across the country, people are trying to make ends meet, build financial security and pursue their aspirations. But, in a vicious cycle of snakes and ladders, many are being pulled down into poverty. This paper advocates for two...

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Broken hearted: a spotlight paper on cardiovascular disease

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at how we need to raise our ambition on cardiovascular disease. Progress on cardiovascular disease was a significant driver of better health and prosperity in the latter half of the 20th century, however progress has recently stalled – with indications it may be in reverse. Stalling progress...

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Stride and ride

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at England's path from laggard to leader in walking, wheeling, and cycling. There is overwhelming evidence that investment in active travel infrastructure brings significant benefits. These include large returns on investment, addressing emissions from road transport, reducing regional inequalities, and improving health. Despite this, investment has remained...

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Healthy places, prosperous lives

This report from UK think tank IPPR identifies examples of transformative place-level interventions in the UK which are already making a difference. The UK is getting poorer and sicker, and this trend is not equal across the country. Poorer and sicker areas are getting poorer and sicker the most quickly. To help develop a path...

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Who decides? Influence and inequality in British democracy

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at how power and influence are distributed unequally across our society. If there is one thing that unites people in this country, it is their disdain for Westminster. People have generally had enough of paying for the mistakes of politicians. This deeply held sentiment will not be...

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Inflation, profits and market power

This report from UK think tank IPPR proposes major policy shifts and argues in favour of a new direction for competition policy. In the aftermath of the pandemic, as the global economy rebounded it was accompanied by a dramatic rise in inflation, reaching levels not seen since the 1970s, peaking at 9 and 11 per...

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Improvement through empowerment

This report from UK think tank IPPR sets out how ‘improvement through empowerment’ - of both teachers and schools, can drive excellence in education. We need to shift the drivers of better schooling from high stakes top-down accountability to a system which empowers schools and teachers to innovate and improve. Policymakers in recent decades have...

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Making markets in practice

This report from UK think tank IPPR argues that there is an urgency for policymakers to implement a green industrial strategy. With Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPs and Science Act and the EU’s Green Industrial Plan, industrial policy is back in vogue. Yet after years of neglect in favour of hands-off, agnostic policymaking, governments...

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Unlocking local action on clean air

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at unlocking local action on clean air. There is an urgent need to address air pollution. Preventing the premature deaths of up to 43,000 people per year in the UK and reducing cases of cancer, strokes, heart attacks, dementia and asthma would be reason alone. Those who...

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Charting new waters

This report from UK think tank IPPR is a progressive response to the Channel crossings. The surge in arrivals from people crossing the Channel in small boats has become an increasingly charged issue for government. The number of detected arrivals rose sharply from 299 in 2018 to 45,744 in 2022, and there have been more...

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Artificial intelligence for public value creation

This report from UK think tank IPPR suggests that governments could outline a positive vision for how AI can help create public value. The eyes of the world will be on this increasingly powerful technology as the UK holds a global AI safety summit in November. However, early signs indicate the discussions will lack ambition....

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From missed chances to green advances: the case for a green industrial strategy

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at the case for a green industrial strategy. The transition to net zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century. But claims of UK leadership in capturing the economic benefits of the transition to a green economy are wide of the mark. While the UK has...

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Towards real social security: embedding a long-term approach to universal credit

This report from UK think tank IPPR looks at how we can build a strategic, ambitious and collaborative response to improve our social security system. Our safety net is failing to protect people from being pulled into poverty. Universal credit is simply inadequate to meet day to day living costs. This means despite temporary cost...

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Fairer winds: workers’ rights in the age of transition

This report by UK think tank IPPR looks at how the UK can learn from the successes and failures of fair transition policies in the US and EU. Countries around the world are starting to build just transition principles into state-led green industrial strategies. Advanced economies, including the US and the EU’s member states, are...

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Upcoming events

9 May 2024

Location: Sir Ambrose Fleming Lecture Theatre, Roberts Building, G06, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT

Think tank: IPPR

‘Growth: A Reckoning’ by Daniel Susskind

At this event hosted by UK think tank IPPR Daniel Susskind will discuss his new book and explore the concept of economic growth. Over the past two centuries, economic growth has freed billions from poverty and made our lives far healthier and longer. As a result, the unfettered pursuit of growth defines economic life around...