The challenging fiscal situation facing the next government means that both Labour and the Conservatives are looking for ways to improve public services without large increases in spending. Improving the productivity of public services is often proposed as a way to achieve this. This follows the...

In this report, we use administrative payroll data from the Electronic Staff Record, combined with local earnings data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings for the period between 2014 and 2019, to examine the correlation between leaving rates for certain NHS staff groups and measures of...

This "explainer" looks at how the parties' proposals would affect Scotland and Wales, covering tax, spending, public finances and the constitution.

This chapter of our second annual Budget Report looks beyond 2024-25 to the medium-term outlook for the Scottish Government's funding, and the implications of the funding picture for the choices and trade-offs faced when allocating funding between areas of the budget. The Scottish Government had...

English councils saw big cuts to their funding during the 2010s, with spending on some services down between 40% and 70% over the decade. And although like virtually all public services, funding for local government was increased during the 2019-24 parliament, councils' finances are still under...

The Scottish Government's Budget for 2024-25 takes place at a time of particular uncertainty about the future funding environment. UK government spending plans both for the coming year and for later years seem likely to be topped up, but when and by how much is unclear. The current UK government...

This report seeks to inform the debate on school funding during the 2024 general election by analysing past trends and likely future pressures.

Health spending, and the performance of the NHS, will feature prominently in the upcoming general election campaign. Many different factors matter for NHS performance and for the wider health of the population, but one important factor is the level of spending on health services. In this IFS...

Like spending on the NHS, and schools, English council funding has increased over the current parliament. But that follows a decade of austerity in the 2010s. And despite funding increases, councils are again under significant financial pressure, with increases in spending outpacing revenues and...