Commentary & Podcasts

A few weeks back, our chief economist Aveek Bhattacharya suggested that the Government should respond to rising household costs – in particular higher energy prices – with a ‘cost-of living-bonus’. The scheme the Treasury decided to go with is decidedly different. Drawing on modelling by Policy Engine UK, Bhattacharya compares the two plans, finding that the SMF's proposal is better targeted and reduces poverty more than the Government's scheme.

Nicky Fairbairn, a Real Estate Partner and member of the Further Education team at International law firm DAC Beachcroft, asks Scott Corfe, Research Director at the Social Market Foundation, about the role civically minded universities will play in shaping the future of our town and city centres.

Aveek Bhattacharya examines possible policy suggestions that can be used to respond to the mounting cost-of-living crisis. Evaluating each, he finally calls on Rishi Sunak's Treasury to give direct cash transfers to households to give them the power to best decide how to respond to rising costs.

This blog, by Fair By Design's Martin Coppack and Carl Packman, analyses the shortcomings of the current energy products market and makes a case for inclusive designing that prevents low-income households from paying the poverty premium.

The UK Government has dubbed this week as 'crime week', drawing our attention to its record on criminal justice. In this article, Aveek Bhattacharya analyses statistics on crime, to show that there are no simple answers on why there is a growing trend of crime victims not going ahead with prosecution.

Is enough being done to tackle the systemic barriers facing ethnic minority businesses? The panellists at our recent event on entrepreneurship and diversity in the UK certainly don’t think so.