The tax and spending choices facing Andy Burnham podcast<p class="p1">Andy Burnham faces difficult choices over tax, borrowing and public spending. How much room will the new Prime Minister have to act?</p>16 July 2026
Will devolution solve the UK’s economic woes? podcast<p>Could devolution boost UK growth, or would it widen regional divides? We ask what shifting power from Westminster would really mean.</p>9 July 2026
The inequality of 'good jobs' podcast<p>What makes a good job? This episode explores pay, progression, flexibility and why access to better work is unequal.</p>25 June 2026
The state of the justice system event 14 September 2026 <p>This in-person event marks the launch of a major new report bringing together insights from the IFS Transforming Justice programme.</p>
IFS Annual Lecture: Are Ideas Harder to Find, Overall? event 12 October 2026 <p><span data-teams="true">Nobel Laureate Philippe Aghion will deliver the 2026 IFS Annual Lecture.</span></p>
Jobs landing page<p>At IFS, we recruit and train top-quality economists and professional support staff. We aim to foster a respectful and inclusive working environment.</p>20 July 2022
Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy The Research Centre at the heart of IFS is the CPP.
Comparing weekly incapacity benefits and unemployment benefit levels over time Published on 18 March 2025 The gap between the basic level of unemployment benefit and the highest level of incapacity benefit which had widened for decades is now set to shrink Government finances and spending Taxes and benefits Benefits Working age benefits Health Disability
What really matters for the UK economy in 2026 podcast What are IFS experts looking out for in 2026? We discuss rising unemployment, benefit reforms, and whether new technologies might improve the outlook. 9 January 2026
Why is the government reforming health-related benefits? podcast We discuss the government's welfare reforms aimed at helping sick and disabled people into work, and what the changes mean for health-related benefits 14 May 2025
Spring Statement 2025: IFS Zooms In podcast What were the decisions and trade-offs made by Chancellor Reeves? 27 March 2025
Rapid rise in children receiving support for special educational needs and disabilities drives spending ever higher press release The share of children receiving SEND support has nearly doubled in a decade, with spending set to reach £21 billion by 2029 3 October 2025
Support for children with disabilities and special educational needs report How do trends, demographics and outcomes of children receiving support for health conditions compare across the benefits and education systems? 3 October 2025
Do disability benefit claims rise when other benefits are cut? report We study four reforms that cut non-health-related benefit provision and find each reform led to increased disability benefit claims. 12 December 2025
Discretion versus algorithms: bureaucrats, tax equity and acceptability working paper We study how replacing bureaucrats’ discretion with algorithmic assessment affects the accuracy, equity, and public acceptance of tax decisions. 11 May 2026
Focal pricing constraints and pass-through of input cost change working paper I prove that, in a simple but general framework, expected pass-through is unchanged by the presence of focal pricing constraints. 13 April 2026
For shorter or poorer: attitudes toward the trade-off between poverty and mortality working paper Many policy decisions involve trade-offs between lives and livelihoods. We provide estimates for a new welfare parameter that expresses this trade off 1 April 2026
