The Scottish Government’s increased surcharge on second and rental home purchases is “inconsistent with any sensible tax policy”, according to a leading think-tank.
Soaring costs for special needs provision are set to wipe out any potential for school savings on the back of declining pupil numbers, according to a report.
Teenagers whose youth clubs closed amid austerity went on to perform less well at school and were more likely to become involved in criminal activity, new research has suggested.
Tax increases of up to £25bn will be needed in the Budget if spending on local government, police and prisons is to rise in line with national income, according to research from the Institute for...
Scrapping the two-child limit would be a quick and cost-effective fix for child poverty – but the benefit cap would wipe out the gains for the poorest families, research has revealed.
Public sector employers will need to divert money from pensions into pay if they are to stem a recruitment and retention crisis across the sector, a leading think-tank has said.
Over 300,000 people have been pushed into poverty by rising mortgage interest rates, according to a new report warning policymakers could be misled by poverty statistics which mask the true scale of...
Labour’s promise of beefed-up employment rights should not be seen as a “free lunch” for workers, and could push down wages and lead to job losses among lower-paid employees, the Institute for Fiscal...
Progress towards eradicating regional inequalities has been “glacial”, driven by patchy policy initiatives and the absence of stable long-term funding, according to a leading think-tank.
As the main political parties set out their policy stalls in hastily written manifestos, the focus will be less on the headline announcements than what is left unsaid.
Neither the Conservatives nor Labour are serious about reducing the level of national debt, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has said, accusing both parties of avoiding the harsh reality of spending...
Scrapping a key economic generation programme to help fund a new national service scheme would see the poorest parts of the UK lose “hundreds of millions” in essential funding, according to the...
The UK will be forced to raise taxes if its public spending levels continue to match those of other developed nations, according to the latest international analysis.
Government spending plans remain within a fiscal rule to show debt falling as a share of the economy in a few years’ time, but this largely relies on fuel duty rising – a prospect described by a...
The government's fiscal credibility is at risk amid the possibility it announces pre-election tax cuts or spending later this year – on top of an upcoming Budget already based on ‘fiscal fiction’ – a...
A proposed real-terms cut to capital budgets risks exacerbating school maintenance backlogs and shows the government does “not care about the state of school buildings”, a union leader has said.