Health

The IFS Green Budget looks at the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the Chancellor aims to secure a lasting recovery and deliver on the Government’s other objectives and priorities.

In collaboration with the Department for Health and Social Care and Imperial College London, we produced detailed estimates of the disruption to NHS hospital activity in England during the first year of the pandemic.

A supporting paper prepared by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Our social care system is the unfinished business of 1946 and the direct descendant of the poor law of 1834; the decision to fund it through a levy is a throwback to a time when we had a social insurance system. And that’s the trouble. If you want a rational system for tax, welfare and public spending, best not to start from here.

If history repeats itself, the ‘temporary’ increases in NHS funding announced this week could end up permanently swallowing up the money raised by the tax rise, leaving little available for social care.

IFS immediate reaction to the Prime Minister's announcement about social care.

Over the last two decades, Sure Start Children’s Centres (and their predecessors, Sure Start Local Programmes) have been one of the most important policy programmes in the early years in England. These centres operate as ‘one-stop shops’ for families with children under 5, bringing together a range of support including health services, parenting support programmes, and access to childcare and early education.

This observation looks at how the numbers in England on the NHS waiting list changed before and during the pandemic and discusses the key factors that will affect how much they will grow in the near future.