What does the Conservatives' 'triple lock plus' announcement mean? And what's the context around tax and the state pension?

Understand this issue

Spending Review 2025: What it means and why it matters

podcast

We take a closer look at the Spending Review and what the policies mean for public services, investment and the wider economy. 

12 June 2025

Drastic times need drastic action: breaking the 50-year tax taboo

comment

Rachel Reeves should consider increasing the basic rate, just as Denis Healey did in 1975 

14 April 2025

Spring Statement 2025: IFS Zooms In

podcast

What were the decisions and trade-offs made by Chancellor Reeves?

27 March 2025

Policy analysis

What the spending review really means for schools

comment

The next few years are going to be very tight for school budgets and forecasting anything more than a real-terms freeze is highly optimistic.

12 June 2025

If the NHS is treated well, other services will feel the squeeze

comment

Rachel Reeves is to allocate between competing priorities with her spending review, and a 2.5 per cent rise for health could mean cuts elsewhere

9 June 2025

Four big decisions for the 2025 Spending Review

comment

Spending Review 2025 will set detailed departmental budgets for most of this parliament. We examine the key choices facing the government.

1 June 2025

Academic research

The future of public pension provision in the UK: challenges and trade-offs

journal article

The UK state pension system faces significant challenges given the country’s ageing population, but it is crucial for retirement finances.

6 June 2025

Costly attention and retirement

working paper

In UK data, I document the prevalence of misbeliefs regarding State Pension eligibility age (SPA) and these misbeliefs’ predictivity of retirement.

1 April 2025

Assessing income redistribution: what are the key analytic choices?

journal article

We present the extent of divergence in the literature on the stylised facts about income redistribution in rich countries.

6 May 2025