More from IFS
Understand this issue

Rank of local authorities by average household income compared to rank by average consumption after housing costs
On average, London local authorities rank at the top of the income distribution, but are bottom of the net-of-housing consumption distribution.
11 April 2025

Average household consumption spending before and after housing costs, and mean weekly per-capita income, in different local authorities, 2018–2019
Londoners may have the highest average incomes, but their household spending once you account for housing costs is lower than other regions.
11 April 2025

Simulated list size and performance against the 18-week target under a variety of treatment growth rate assumptions
Although performance improves in each case, in none of our scenarios does performance reach the 92% target by the end of the parliament.
20 March 2025
Policy analysis

Which places have the highest standard of living?
Measuring living standards using average household spending gives a starkly different picture of regional inequalities than using average income.
11 April 2025

How did tax credits transform the UK welfare system?
Over 20 years since they were introduced, tax credits have now been replaced by universal credit. How did they change the UK welfare system?
4 April 2025

Average annual growth in real household disposable income per capita, by parliament
Latest OBR forecasts suggest living standards will rise by just 0.6% per year over the current parliament.
1 April 2025
Academic research

Small area consumption estimates for local authorities in Great Britain
In this paper, we estimate average equivalised consumption measures across local authority districts in Great Britain.
11 April 2025

Call for papers: IFS-ADBI-GHE Workshop on Health Economics in LMICs 2025
Submissions are open until 15th February for the IFS-GHE Workshop on Health Economics in LMIC 2025

Subjective expectations and demand for contraception
We collect data on the subjective beliefs of married, adult women not wanting a pregnancy and estimate a structural model of contraceptive choices.
9 April 2025