The uncertainty over future student loan repayments means that the debate about whether the government contribution to the cost of higher education is too high will almost certainly continue. However, as our analysis makes clear, whatever the current estimate of the RAB charge, it is based on a...

Since 1995, employment rates of men in their 50s and 60s have steadily increased, following a long period of decline from the late 1960s. At the same time, employment rates of older women have continued to increase. This growth in employment rates was only somewhat arrested during the recent...

The Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE) project is the first large-scale British study on the effects of different pre-school experiences on children's outcomes. It enables researchers to look at the impact of both pre-school education and pre-school quality not only on...

This report provides the first evidence of the relative cost-effectiveness of different routes into teaching in England, describing and empirically estimating the costs and benefits of different routes into teaching while accounting, as far as possible, for the selection of teachers with...

How have household incomes evolved since the onset of the financial crisis? How has the gap between rich and poor changed? How have living standards changed over time for different parts of the population? How many people are in poverty and which groups are most likely to face poverty? Each...

This report examines how living standards - most commonly measured by households' incomes - were changing in the UK up to approximately the eve of the current COVID-19 crisis, using the latest official household income data covering years up to 2018-19. We particularly focus on how this differed...

Going to university is a very good investment for most students. Over their working lives, men will be £130,000 better off on average by going to university after taxes, student loan repayments and foregone earnings are taken into account. For women, this figure is £100,000. (These and other...

This report examines changes in the distribution of household incomes in the UK, and the determinants and consequences of recent trends. This includes analysing not only changes in average living standards, but also inequality in household incomes and measures of income poverty and deprivation....

Debates over living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK are often hampered by the fact that official data on household incomes are available only with a significant lag. Currently, the latest statistics are for 2015-16. In this report, we attempt to fill this gap by estimating what has...

On 5 July this year the NHS will be 70. In all its 70 years it has rarely been far from the headlines. It has been through more than its fair share of reforms, crises and funding ups and downs. Over that period, the amount we spend on it has risen inexorably. Yet, today, concerns about the...