Council tax benefit (CTB) was abolished in April 2013 and local authorities in England were charged with designing their own council tax support (CTS) schemes in its place. Although these must maintain support for pensioners at its previous level, local authorities have had wide discretion to...

This report presents projections of relative and absolute income poverty among children and working-age adults in every year to 2016-17, and in 2020-21. The aim is to estimate the implications for household incomes- and hence, income poverty- of what we know about tax and benefit policy and...

Official data on the distribution of household incomes in the UK are available only with a significant lag: the latest statistics are for 2013-14. In this report, we use modelling techniques to provide a more up-to-date picture and to assess how things are likely to evolve in the coming years....

The UK government's proposed package of tax and benefit changes (those announced in fiscal events up to and including the July Budget) to be introduced between 2015-16 and 2019-20 will reduce the incomes of households in Wales by £459 a year on average (an aggregate loss of around £600...

The UK government's proposed package of tax and benefit changes to be introduced between 2015-16 and 2019-20 (those announced in fiscal events up to and including the July Budget) will reduce household incomes by £455 a year on average. However, this average figure disguises considerable...

This is the first of two reports examining welfare reform and poverty in Northern Ireland. The research was funded by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, Northern Ireland and the ESRC Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy.

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system in England has faced unprecedented pressure over the past decade, and without substantial reform it will likely become unmanageable for local authorities over the coming years. Fundamentally, this is due to the rocketing number of...

Education spending is the second-largest element of public service spending in the UK behind health, representing about £99 billion in 2020-21 in today's prices or about 4.5% of national income. To make efficient and equitable policy choices, it is crucial to have a clear, consistent picture of...

Over the last 20 years, sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have experienced significant economic growth and consequently growing levels of motorisation. Though overall levels of motorisation in SSA are still relatively low, with a high number of poor-quality vehicles concentrated in large...