Category Archives: Media Release

The Government should adopt a radical new model of unemployment support combining retirement and rainy-day savings, underpinned by the power of social relationships, the Social Market Foundation think tank claims today (Monday 17 June).

The Government’s approach to reforming unemployment support is harming the UK’s future prosperity and will not equip the country for the global race, a leading economist warns today.

On Monday the Government launches Universal Credit, its flagship benefits scheme. What should we look out for?

This morning’s growth figures are the latest set-piece dust-up on the Government’s growth strategy. And as innumerable pointy-heads have made clear, the positive or negative sign on the front of the growth figure is really only of political significance. The broad picture remains one of stagnation. So we remain where we’ve been for a long time, debating what to do to get growth going.

A little-noticed announcement on public spending at last month’s Budget looks set to pit pensioners and working-age people against each other in the future over their share of the controversial welfare bill, new analysis from the Social Market Foundation reveals.

Creative accounting, inflating the housing market, a new squeeze on welfare

The Government's new childcare voucher scheme is welcome news for many middle- and high-income parents with children under the age of five struggling with the high costs of childcare: polling by YouGov for the SMF that just as many these parents said they found it difficult to pay for childcare as parents on the lowest incomes.

The Government’s aim to rebalance the economy away from financial services is inconceivable due to a 40,000 per year shortage of home-grown graduates in the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) sectors, a think tank reveals today (Monday 18 March).

New analysis of today’s public borrowing figures reveals that the deficit is on course to be over £6bn higher by the end of this year compared to last, meaning that overall government borrowing looks set to rise and yet more spending cuts may be necessar