Government finances and spending

Article published in the Independent 26 October 2012

In a ministerial statement last week the government announced a significant change to its policy to localise Council Tax Benefit (CTB) from next April. In this observation we ask why such a significant change has been announced to a policy two years after it was first announced, less than six months before councils will have to implement it and after many have already consulted on the structure of proposed schemes.

This presentation was delivered on 18 October 2012 at an ESRC conference, 'Social mobility and Equality: early years, education and transition to the labour market'.

Paper given at the IFS event of the same name on 16th October 2012

Paper given at the WLGA Financial Conference, 5th October, 2012

In his speech to the Conservative party conference today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer again stated an intention to reduce welfare expenditure by a further £10 billion per year by 2016–17. In this observation, IFS researchers analyse the suggested cuts.

The Government’s controversial reforms to higher education funding - involving an increase in the cap on tuition fees to £9,000 per year and the removal of most direct funding for universities - have this month been implemented. However, the new system is substantially more progressive than its predecessor, as the richest graduates are likely to repay ten times as much as the poorest, and would even pay back more than the value of what they borrowed. Here we summarise IFS research assessing who wins and who loses from these reforms.

Presentation given at the ESRI, Dublin, 27 September 2012

As economic forecasts are downgraded, should the chancellor breach his fiscal rules in the Autumn Statement?

This paper was given at the EALE 2012 conference in Bonn.

This presentation was delivered at the Queen's International Institute on Social Policy, Kingston, Ontario.

Presentation given for the Wesminster Education Forum, 12 September 2012