Very interesting that the OBR have chosen to note that (highlighting my own): There have been, and will continue to be, wider operational changes within HMRC and across Government that are likely to affect the public finances. For example, reductions in administrative spending in other areas of HMRC could lead to less tax revenue being…
Today’s budget provides costings for the new employment rights for shares scheme – the costs of which are estimated by the Exchequer to be £80 million by 2017-18. But the OBR also note that: There are a number of uncertainties about the costing….the cost is expected to rise towards £1 billion beyond the end of…
Following the announcement of his decision to reduce tax credit and benefit uprating in years ahead the Chancellor announced today that the Government will be introducing a Welfare Uprating Bill, stating that To bring all these decisions for many benefits over many years together, we will introduce into Parliament primary legislation – the Welfare Uprating…
The changes the Chancellor has announced in the basis for tax credit and benefit uprating will have significant implications for families – our analysis shows that the cumulative impacts of policies announced over the parliament will mean that some households are over £2,800 a year worse off as a result of tax credit changes alone.…
The Chancellor has already frozen Child Benefit for three years. But today we heard that the real terms value of this important family benefit will be cut even further as a result of the Chancellor’s plans to limit uprating to 1% a year, regardless of the inflation rate. What does this mean in practice?
The Chancellor’s employment rights for shares proposals have rightly been criticised for permitting employees to trade essential key employment rights for potentially worthless shares, undermining both employment protection and the credibility of existing employee share ownership schemes (and the TUC’s comprehensive response makes clear the multiple objectives there are to these ill thought through plans).…
Yesterday’s FT announced (£) that the ‘BoE fears zombie companies haunt the road to recovery’, claiming that ‘the idea that zombie households, companies and banks are holding back the recovery will gain further weight in the quarterly inflation report today when the central bank will present research showing most productivity weakness is presented in smaller…
Living Wage week was a great success in drawing attention to the large number of low paid workers across the UK, and the importance of finding new ways to boost incomes above the vital pay floor set by the NMW. With over 40,000 workers now benefitting from the work of the Living Wage campaign success…
Pledge cards at today’s Conservative conference have been proudly proclaiming that the deficit is down by a quarter. Is it? The reality is not that simple.
The recent Juncture article from Gavin Kelly and Nick Pearce makes the vital argument that we need: A more fundamental thinking of social democratic political economy than has yet been undertaken in the UK, and with it a new configuration of priorities. Our goal must be a more resilient and stable British capitalism, with more…