Collection
![Aerial view of Blackpool](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_banner_desktop/public/2022-08/Blackpool-aerial-view.jpg?itok=M7WqEUmm)
Our analysis of the government's announcements on levelling up.
Explainers
![UK housing block](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/UK-house-block.jpg?itok=3EqQ5qYl)
'Levelling Up' explained
2 October 2020
![Image of train](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-07/train-infrastructure-featured.jpg?itok=9H9CgtsG)
Investment, infrastructure and levelling up
9 July 2020
Analysis
![Solent harbour](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2023-03/Solent-harbour.jpg?itok=dzVDjBMg)
Freeports and Investment Zones – what sorts of things should we consider when assessing whether they are good policy?
10 March 2023
![Teesside](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2023-03/Teesside-bridge.jpg?itok=30HhbVaU)
Freeports: What are they? What do we know? And what will we know?
10 March 2023
![School sports day](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-10/School-sports-day.jpg?itok=X_MKWeZo)
The poor are failed most by our inability to reform local services
24 October 2022
![School classroom](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-10/School-classroom-empty.jpg?itok=w3U87WFC)
Does funding follow need? An analysis of the geographic distribution of public spending in England
20 October 2022
![Aerial view of town](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/Aerial%20view%20of%20town.jpg?itok=1awZy6H3)
Will the Fair Funding Review be another damp squib?
Last month the government finally announced how its replacement for EU regional development funding – the Shared Prosperity Fund – will be allocated across the country.
11 May 2022
![Westminster from river](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/Westminster%20from%20river.jpg?itok=jHG_penc)
IFS response to UK Shared Prosperity Fund
It is disappointing that the UK government has ‘taken back control’ only to stick to an arbitrary, poorly designed, out-of-date funding allocation mechanism.
13 April 2022
![School Field](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/School%20Field.jpg?itok=eOyq8fTj)
Is public service spending aligned with the ‘levelling up’ agenda?
The allocation of public spending is one the most direct levers for ‘levelling up’ health, wealth and well-being. But is policy aligned with the government’s stated aims?
18 March 2022
![Town from above](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/Town%20from%20above.jpg?itok=6I5jmLQK)
Spatial disparities across labour markets
2 February 2022
![An image of a street full of boarded up houses](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/boarded-up-houses.jpeg?itok=zkQq8z85)
Challenges for levelling up
![Aerial view of warehouses](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-10/aerial-view-of-warehouses.jpg?itok=FJVVKsjK)
An initial IFS response to the government's Levelling Up White Paper
2 February 2022
![Train line](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/Trainline.jpg?itok=DicWCs71)
Response to government's Levelling Up White Paper
The Levelling Up White Paper is just the latest of efforts to tackle regional inequalities. What does it tell us about this government’s approach? And how likely is it to succeed where others have failed?
4 February 2022
![Aerial view of new build houses](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-10/Aerial-view-of-new-build-houses.jpg?itok=RiQikvFL)
IFS pre-release 'stress test' for the Levelling Up White Paper
1 February 2022
![Playing field](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/Playing%20field2.jpg?itok=ayErRa2b)
Education spending changes put a major brake on levelling up
30 November 2021
![School sign](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/School%20sign.jpg?itok=vc20SICn)
Education spending: resourced for levelling up?
The next few years are likely to be particularly challenging for schools, colleges, universities and nurseries. This event examined how education spending can be best set to support levelling up and narrow inequalities.
30 November 2021
![Chairs in school](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/Chairs%20in%20school.jpg?itok=xl5f_N4c)
The growing gap between state school and private school spending
8 October 2021
![Streets in Blackpool](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-07/Streets-in-Blackpool.jpg?itok=QbFdECyQ)
Whatever levelling up might mean, there’s an age-old problem to tackle
"We’ll know we are on the way to levelling up when differences in health and life expectancy across the country start to drop. Sadly, that’s one measure of inequality that has clearly been moving in the wrong direction over the past decade." Paul Johnson writes for The Times on levelling up.
19 July 2021
![Presentation graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-presentation-graphic.png?itok=AWLxJRha)
IFS Green Budget 2020: Challenges for the Spending Review and levelling up
At this event, IFS researchers presented the findings of two chapters of the 2020 IFS Green Budget, addressing the big questions around the 2020 Spending Review and ‘levelling up’.
2 October 2020
![News graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-news-graphic.png?itok=s0Yi98c8)
Economic disruption from COVID-19 and Brexit will complicate the levelling-up agenda
2 October 2020
![Aerial view of Blackpool](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-10/Blackpool-aerial-view.jpg?itok=ie8MaRW4)
Levelling up: where and how?
2 October 2020
![](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/output_images/Image-of-roundabout.png?itok=na5dOq9u)
Catching up or falling behind? Geographical inequalities in the UK and how they have changed in recent years
The COVID-19 crisis has brought to the fore increasing concerns about inequalities not only between different population groups – such as the gap between the rich and poor, young and old, and different ethnic groups – but also between people living in different places. Even prior to the crisis though, there was a sense that the UK is not only a highly geographically unequal country, but also an increasingly geographically unequal one.
3 August 2020
![Bank notes](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-08/UK-cash-notes.jpg?itok=bbviU19m)
Sharing prosperity? Options and issues for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund
European Structural and Investment (ESI) funds help to pay for initiatives supporting business development, research and development, investment in digital and green infrastructure, as well skills and training interventions and support for job-seekers. But with the UK having formally departed the European Union, the country will stop receiving new ESI funding at the end of 2020. Thus, for 2021 and beyond, the UK government faces choices over what to replace ESI funding with.
13 July 2020
![News graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-news-graphic.png?itok=s0Yi98c8)
Brexit offers an opportunity to rationalise regional funding schemes. It’s past time government announced what it will do
13 July 2020
![News graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-news-graphic.png?itok=s0Yi98c8)
![Article graphic](/sites/default/files/styles/3_2_desktop/public/2022-06/IFS-article-graphic.png?itok=bWjROHQE)
Levelling up: what might it mean for public spending?
Much has been made of the Government’s promise to ‘level up’ across the UK.
9 March 2020
Authors
![Chrsitine Farquharson](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/Christine_Farquharson.jpg?itok=BYNi7ydQ)
Associate Director
Christine's research examines inequalities in children's education and health, especially in the early education and childcare sector.
![Paul Johnson](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-11/Paul%20J%202022%20Official%20portrait_0.jpg?itok=JAN23N1X)
Director
Paul has been the Director of the IFS since 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London.
![Robert Joyce](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/Rob_Joyce.jpg?itok=4UaBJrrb)
Deputy Director
Robert is a Deputy Director. His work focuses on primarily on the labour market, income and wealth inequality, and the design of the welfare system.
![David Phillips](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/David_Phillips.jpg?itok=wr3uc1L2)
Associate Director
David is Head of Devolved and Local Government Finance. He also works on tax in developing countries as part of our TaxDev centre.
![Imran Tahir](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-10/Imran_Tahir_1%20-%20Copy.jpg?itok=z-F3lE45)
Research Economist
Imran joined the IFS in 2019 and works in the Education and Skills sector.
![Xiaowei Xu](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-06/Xiaowei_Xu.jpg?itok=jkRw9DDN)
Senior Research Economist
Xiaowei joined the IFS in 2018 and works in the Income, Work and Welfare sector.
![Ben Zaranko](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2022-10/Ben_Zaranko_1%20-%20Copy.jpg?itok=6MD7TUeX)
Senior Research Economist
Ben is a Senior Research Economist and an editor of the IFS Green Budget. His work focuses on the health and social care system and UK fiscal policy.
Collection details
- Publisher
- Institute for Fiscal Studies
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