This paper examines the impact of the UK housing benefit system on the financial returns to employment of people in local authority or Housing Association accommodation. It outlines the current structure of housing benefit and examines its effects on the returns to employment using data from the...

The basic state retirement pension is payable irrespective of means but it is a contributory benefit, not a universal benefit. Individuals who do not have enough National Insurance contributions when they reach state pension age are not entitled to a full state pension. They may receive a...

This paper examines the asset positions of households at and around retirement in Britain using the Retirement Survey ‘waves’ of 1988-89 and 1994. The data provide the first panel evidence on retirement behaviour and asset evolution for a sample of older households in Britain. The analysis...

One-and-a-half million pensioners are dependent on the minimum means-tested benefit, income support. But the numbers on income support have barely changed in two decades despite substantial increases in its value and that of its precursor, supplementary benefit. At least another 2 million...

In the ten year period of Mrs Thatcher's government, and especially over the last few years, there have been many changes to the tax and benefit system. In this short article we show how these changes have affected households in the UK. We performed a similar exercise in 1986, but htis was...

Social security spending accounts for almost 30 per cent of public expenditure and is projected to reach £74.7 billion in 1992-93. Almost half of this spending goes to the elderly. The cost of social security to the elderly has grown steadily in the post-war period, and will continue to grow...

The unexpectedly high outturn of tax revenues in the UK in recent years has permitted drastic revision of borrowing and taxing plans. Such unexpectedly high outturns may result from either: ii) An unexpectedly fast growth in one or more of the tax bases or ii) An underestimation of the response...