Benefits - Election 2019

Benefits

Social security spending (spending on benefits, tax credits and state pensions) is the biggest single component of government spending. The design and size of the system affects the incomes and incentives of millions of families.

The government is currently in the process of replacing six existing means-tested benefits with a single integrated payment - Universal Credit (UC). This represents the most radical shake-up to the working-age benefit system in decades, directly affecting around 7 million households who will eventually be receiving it. But currently only about 2.5 million households are on UC (see figure) - and completing that rollout with minimal disruption represents a big challenge for the next government. This reform comes against the backdrop of significant cuts to working-age benefits implemented since 2010, while pensioners have been mostly protected and have benefited from the 'triple lock' on the state pension.

The next government will face important choices about how much to spend on benefits and the state pension, and where that money should go. In the run-up to the 2019 general election we will be publishing analysis of benefit and pension changes that parties are proposing.

Successive forecasts of the rollout of Universal Credit

Successive forecasts of the rollout of Universal Credit

Useful resources

Election 2019 analysis

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The distributional impact of personal tax and benefit reforms, 2010 to 2019

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The tax and benefit system has undergone significant reform since 2010, with large cuts to working-age benefits, a rise in the main rate of VAT, increases in the rate of the state pension, and reductions in direct tax, including a big rise in the income tax personal allowance. In this briefing note we investigate the impact that these reforms have had on household incomes.

4 December 2019

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A decade of cross-party increases in the state pension age

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This briefing note describes the state pension age increases that have been legislated by various governments in recent decades, and discusses how they relate to improvements in life expectancies and how spending on state pensions is projected to evolve as a result.

15 November 2019

Background analysis

Briefing note

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Universal credit and its impact on household incomes: the long and the short of it

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In this research we investigate who wins and loses from universal credit, and by how much. For the first time, we also look at the effects of universal credit on people’s incomes over eight years of their lives, rather than just at a point in time. This lets us look at the impact on those that are persistently, rather than temporarily, low income.

24 April 2019

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Tax and spending since the crisis: is austerity over?

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In the aftermath of the global financial crisis and associated recession, government borrowing soared to more than 10% of national income. Borrowing has since been reduced through a combination of net tax rises, cuts to the generosity of the working-age social security system and cuts to public service spending. In this briefing note, we provide an overview of what has happened to each of these areas since the crisis, highlighting where (and when) the spending cuts have fallen, and consider the long-term outlook for the make-up of public expenditure.

17 November 2019

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A decade of cross-party increases in the state pension age

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This briefing note describes the state pension age increases that have been legislated by various governments in recent decades, and discusses how they relate to improvements in life expectancies and how spending on state pensions is projected to evolve as a result.

15 November 2019

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