The current system of private pension savings in the UK is based on employers choosing a workplace pension provider, to which contributions from the employee and employer are sent, and which invests the contributions on behalf of the employee. This means that when an individual leaves their...

One of the government's key public service priorities is to cut waiting times for elective (preplanned) NHS care in England. The government has committed to achieve the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks for elective hospital treatment. Despite...

This report describes patterns of co-residence of young adults at a parental home in the United Kingdom. We show how the rate of co-residence varies across dimensions such as income, region and ethnicity. We show how it has changed in recent years and discuss potential drivers of the rise...

Hospitals, schools, councils and other parts of the public sector are a major employer in Scotland. The public sector paybill is also a substantial part of government spending. Recent years have seen larger-than-expected increases in both public sector employment and pay, the latter driven by...

At just under £8 billion, spending on schools and childcare is the second-largest area of public service spending in Scotland, behind spending on health. While councils rather than the Scottish Government itself determine how much to spend on schools, they do so in the context of a funding and...

This report analyses the Scottish Government's Budget for 2025-26, with chapters on tax strategy, school spending, public sector pay and more.

The justice system is an important part of how the government upholds the law and maintains public order, making it a significant area of responsibility. In England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is responsible for funding and overseeing most functions of the justice system, including...

This report examines ethnic differences in pension participation in the UK following the nationwide roll-out of automatic enrolment, the drivers of those gaps, and the consequences for wealth accumulation. It draws on an academic research paper (Cribb, O'Brien and Sturrock, 2025) published...

Council tax is levied on the occupiers of residential property to help fund the provision of local services. Individual Scottish councils set the tax rates for their area, but it is the Scottish Government that determines the tax base to which the tax rates apply. With properties still assigned...

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant rise in the number of people getting health-related benefits. In England and Wales, 4 million 16- to 64-year-olds (1 in 10) now claim either disability or incapacity benefits, up from 2.8 million in 2019 (1 in 13). One potential...