The £600 billion problem awaiting the next government podcastWe speak to David Gauke and Giles Wilkes, two experts who have been at the heart of the spending review process.25 April 2024
Be the Chancellor Our interactive tool lets you be the Chancellor. Change spending plans, set tax policies and see how your choices impact borrowing and debt.
Should we worry about government debt? podcastDavid Miles joins us to discuss high government debt and its impact on the economy. 11 April 2024
IFS Annual Lecture - Innovation and productivity policies: a budgetary perspective event 15 May 2024 Professor Heidi Williams (Dartmouth College) will deliver the 2024 IFS Annual Lecture on innovation and productivity policies.
Higher Education Access and Funding: challenges and policy options conference 14 May 2024 This one-day academic conference will look at access to and funding of Higher Education systems.
Jobs landing pageAt IFS, we recruit and train top-quality economists and professional support staff. We aim to foster a respectful and inclusive working environment.20 July 2022
Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy The Research Centre at the heart of IFS is the CPP.
IFS Green Budget 2022reportThe IFS Green Budget 2022 takes stock of the economic and fiscal outlook following Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget and analyses the challenges ahead.11 October 2022
UK outlook: why we need to do things differentlyreportThe UK is the talk of the town, and not in a good way.11 October 2022
Global economic outlook: heading for a fall?reportNew shocks are threatening to cut the global post-pandemic recovery short. 11 October 2022
Outlook for the public financesreportWe look at the path for the public finances and the Chancellor's options to achieve fiscal sustainability.11 October 2022
Public spending, pay and pensionsreportThe public sector pay settlements announced this July will pose severe budgetary challenges for many areas of government. 8 October 2022
Reforms, roll-outs and freezes in the tax and benefit systemreportWe show the impact of freezes and gradual roll-outs on personal taxes and benefits, as well as considering planned changes to the tax system.6 October 2022
Corporation tax and investmentreportWe look at the corporate tax system and proposals to change it.21 October 2022
Quantitative easing, monetary policy implementation, and the public financesreportRising interest rates, quantitative easing and current monetary policy techniques interact to put pressure on the public finances.14 October 2022
Reversing NICs and corporation tax rises would leave debt on an unsustainable pathreportIn the absence of official scrutiny from the OBR, we set out how much red ink might be added to the fiscal forecasts.21 September 2022
The outlook for the public finances under the Bank of England’s August 2022 forecastreportThis report sets out an illustrative scenario for how the current path of inflation and growth might affect government revenues and spending.18 August 2022
What is happening to public sector pay?explainerWith inflation rising, and a cost of living crisis hitting the UK, how much public sector workers get paid is hitting the headlines.31 October 2022
A response to the Chancellor’s ‘Mini-Budget’ reversalscommentFiscal credibility is hard won but easily lost. Today’s announcements won’t be enough, by themselves, to plug the gap in the government’s fiscal plans17 October 2022
Monetary policy techniques add to strains on the public finances: reforms could bring big benefits, but costs too press releaseSir Paul Tucker writes for the IFS Green Budget on how rising interest rates, quantitative easing and current monetary policy techniques interact.14 October 2022
The challenges facing the ChancellorpodcastWe explore the Chancellor's options for achieving fiscal sustainability.12 October 2022
With a weaker economy, getting government finances on a sustainable path without cancelling tax cuts could force Chancellor into big and painful spending cuts press releaseKwasi Kwarteng would need to announce a fiscal tightening of more than £60 billion just to stabilise debt as a fraction of national income in 2026–27.11 October 2022
Even if real pay is cut by 5%, public sector workforce may need to be cut by more than 200,000 by 2024 to stay within current spending planspress releasePublic sector workers will receive pay awards of around 5% this year, on average.8 October 2022
For every £1 given to households through headline cuts to taxes, £2 is being taken away in stealthy freezespress releaseBy 2025–26 these freezes take away £2 for every £1 given to households through the headline personal tax cuts. 6 October 2022
Benefits, inflation and redistributionpodcastWhat role does the benefit system play in redistribution - and how will high inflation impact the system?6 October 2022
IFS response to U-turn on plan to cut 45p income tax rate press release"The Chancellor still has a lot of work to do if he is to display a credible commitment to fiscal sustainability."3 October 2022
Mini-Budget responsecommentThe Chancellor announced the biggest package of tax cuts in 50 years without even a semblance of an effort to make the public finance numbers add up.23 September 2022
Deteriorating outlook for the public finances amid heightened uncertainty casts doubt on plausibility of promises of large permanent tax cutspress releaseThe two candidates for Prime Minister need to recognise the even greater than usual uncertainty in the public finances.18 August 2022
The long squeeze: rising inflation and the current government support packagecommentWe look at the impact of inflation and the government's proposals to tackle it.15 August 2022
The inflation squeeze on public servicescommentHigher inflation squeezes public service budgets and makes government spending plans less generous than originally intended. How much less generous?10 August 2022
Green Budget 2022event 11 October 2022 at 10:00 The IFS Green Budget 2022 will take stock of the economic and fiscal outlook following Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget and analyse the challenges ahead.
Reforms, rollouts and freezes in the tax and benefit systemevent 6 October 2022 at 11:00 This event explored the impact of the significant change the tax and benefit system is currently undergoing.
A look ahead to Friday's mini-Budgetevent 22 September 2022 at 09:00 On Friday, the Chancellor will make his first fiscal statement since taking office. What should we look out for?
Public investment: what you need to know explainer Everything you wanted to know about UK public investment but were too afraid to ask – including analysis of Labour and Conservative plans. 25 April 2024
The £600 billion problem awaiting the next government podcast We speak to David Gauke and Giles Wilkes, two experts who have been at the heart of the spending review process. 25 April 2024
Raising revenue from closing inheritance tax loopholes comment Reforms could be enacted to make inheritance tax fairer and raise revenue. 18 April 2024
Recent trends in and the outlook for health-related benefits report Recipients of and spending on health-related benefits have risen rapidly since the start of the pandemic, posing a serious challenge for policymakers. 19 April 2024
4.2 million working-age people now claiming health-related benefits, could rise by 30% by the end of the decade press release Our new report sheds more light on forecasts for a substantial increase in the number of people claiming health-related benefits in coming years. 19 April 2024
Oil and gas make Scotland’s underlying public finances particularly volatile and uncertain comment A fallback in oil and gas prices has hit Scotland’s underlying public finance position this year. 27 March 2024
6th World Bank/IFS/ODI Public Finance Conference | Driving Progress: Public Finance and Structural Transformation conference 26 September 2024 We invite researchers from both academic and policy institutions to submit a paper or an extended abstract of two or more pages by April.
Longer-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the dietary purchasing choices of British households report Takeaways and meal delivery grew by more than 50% during the pandemic – and have stayed high thereafter. 4 April 2024
Unfunded mandates and taxation journal article In mid-2006, the Chinese central government increased the salaries and pensions of civil servants in its coastal areas but a funded mandate in others. 14 March 2024
