A paper said that tax and benefit reforms introduced and planned by the new government would reduce incomes in Northern Ireland by more than those in any other part of the United Kingdom except London.
Source: James Browne, The Impact of Tax and Benefit Reforms to be Introduced Between 2010-11 and 2014-15 in Northern Ireland, Briefing Note 114, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release | NICVA press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Dec
The European Commission published an action plan on employment, designed to make labour markets more flexible, give workers the skills they needed, improve working conditions, and create jobs. The main goal was to achieve an employment rate of 75 per cent by 2020 for everyone aged between 20 and 64.
Source: An Agenda for New Skills and Jobs: A European contribution towards full employment, European Commission
Links: Action plan | Summary | EC press release
Date: 2010-Dec
The High Court rejected an application by campaigners for a judicial review of the 'emergency' June 2010 Budget, made on the grounds that the government had failed to conduct a gender impact assessment.
Source: High Court 6 December 2010
Links: Fawcett Society press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2010-Dec
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the 'emergency' June 2010 Budget. It said that by 2014-15 80 per cent of the additional 'fiscal consolidation' measures set out in the Budget would be delivered through spending cuts rather than tax increases.
Source: June 2010 Budget: Government Response to the First Report from the Committee, First Special Report (Session 2010-11), HC 586, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee/TSO
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2010-Nov
An article examined elements of a socially just response to the economic recession. Applying the principle of 'progressive social justice', it proposed two particular policy responses to the crisis: the restoration of effective unemployment insurance at home, and the cementing of the commitment to overseas aid as part of the United Kingdom's global responsibilities.
Source: Tony Atkinson, 'Progressive social justice and responding to the crisis', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 18 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Nov
HM Treasury published a business plan for the period 2011-2015.
Source: Business Plan 2011-2015, HM Treasury
Links: Plan
Date: 2010-Nov
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility upgraded its forecast for economic growth in 2010 to 1.8 per cent (from 1.2 per cent): but it cut its estimate for 2011 to 2.1 per cent (from 2.3 per cent). It said that it expected 330,000 public sector workers to lose their jobs over the following four years – fewer than the 490,000 it had previously forecast.
Source: Economic and Fiscal Outlook, Cm 7979, Office for Budget Responsibility/TSO
Links: Report |Hansard | HMT press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Nov
A government-commissioned report said that consumer contract law would be improved if many of its provisions could be brought together in a single law that so far as possible subjected all consumer supply contracts to the same rights and remedies.
Source: Geraint Howells and Christian Twigg-Flesner (eds.), Consolidation and Simplification of UK Consumer Law, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Nov
The coalition government published the 'first ever' infrastructure plan for the United Kingdom. It outlined the scale of the investment that was needed to underpin sustainable growth – in energy, transport, digital communications, floodwater, waste management, and science; and it set out the role of government in mobilizing both private and public sector resources to support the plan.
Source: National Infrastructure Plan 2010, HM Treasury
Links: Report | Hansard | HMT press release | PM speech | BCC press release | CBI press release | IOD press release | Labour Party press release | PwC press release | TUC press release | Water UK press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Oct
A report for the equality watchdog in Northern Ireland said that young people, and particularly young men, were being worst hit by the recession in Northern Ireland.
Source: Ron McQuaid, Emma Hollywood and Jesus Canduela, Employment Inequalities in an Economic Downturn, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland
Links: Report | Summary | ECNI press release
Date: 2010-Sep
A think-tank report said that the new coalition government's programme of public spending cuts was a 'large and reckless gamble'. Far from being progressive, the government had set the country on a course that would leave it poorer and more unequal. The report called for an alternative economic-political model to ensure that growth was balanced between socio-economic groups, regions, and sectors, and to accommodate environmental needs.
Source: George Irvin, Howard Reed and Zoe Gannon, The £100 Billion Gamble on Growth Without the State, Compass
Links: Report | Compass press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Sep
A think-tank paper examined the moral limits to the market economy. It said that a market economy could help nurture good human attributes such as trust, good timekeeping, professionalism, and concern for others.
Source: Philip Booth, The Moral Limits to the Market Economy, and the Financial Crash, Institute of Economic Affairs
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Sep
A briefing note examined the newly created Office for Budget Responsibility. It described how the OBR had been set up on an interim basis, and some of the issues relating to its establishment on a permanent, statutory basis.
Source: Dominic Webb, The Office for Budget Responsibility, Standard Note SN/EP/5657, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2010-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs made recommendations designed to ensure the independence and authority of the new Office for Budget Responsibility.
Source: Office for Budget Responsibility, Fourth Report (Session 2010-11), HC 385, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Sep
A think-tank briefing paper modelled the impact of tax and benefit changes in the 2010 'emergency' Budget on different income and expenditure groups. It said that many of the progressive tax rises that would be introduced over the years 2010-2012 had been announced by the previous government, and that the Budget measures scheduled to come in between 2012 and 2014 were generally regressive. Moreover, the distributional analysis in the Budget documentation did not include the effects of some cuts to housing benefit, disability living allowance, and tax credits that were likely to affect the poorer half of the income distribution more than the richer half.
Source: James Browne and Peter Levell, The Distributional Effect of Tax and Benefit Reforms to be Introduced Between June 2010 and April 2014: A Revised Assessment, Briefing Note 108, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Briefing Note | IFS press release | ECP press release | Children & Young People Now report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Aug
The Finance Bill was given a second and third reading, and received Royal assent. The legislation was designed to enact key measures in the 2010 'emergency' Budget.
Source: Finance Act (No. 2) 2010, HM Treasury/TSO | Debate 6 July 2010, columns 194-342, House of Commons Hansard/TSO | Debate 20 July 2010, columns 192-243, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes to Bill | HMT press release | Hansard (second reading) | Hansard (third reading)
Date: 2010-Jul
A report by a committee of MPs said that the 'emergency' Budget in June 2010 had raised the risk of a 'double-dip' recession, and was unfair on the least well-off groups compared with middle-income groups.
Source: June 2010 Budget, First Report (Session 2010-11), HC 350, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report | Committee press release | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
A briefing paper examined the tax credit and benefit changes announced in the 2010 'emergency' Budget and how they would affect different low-income households.
Source: The Coalition Budget 2010: Key Welfare Changes and Their Impact on Low Income Households, Citizens Advice
Links: Briefing | Citizens Advice press release
Date: 2010-Jul
The new coalition government published a strategy for sustainable growth, based on cutting the public debt and encouraging entrepreneurship.
Source: A Strategy for Sustainable Growth, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | Hansard | DBIS press release | IOD press release
Date: 2010-Jul
A report called for 'profound reform' of the banking system designed to put ordinary people and society at its heart. Proposals included: reforms to help ensure the safety of depositors' money; the introduction of new rules to make banks responsible for meeting consumers' needs; and the creation of a healthy, professional, and ethical culture in financial services.
Source: The Future of Banking Commission, Consumers' Association
Links: Report | Consumers Association press release | BCC press release | NEF press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jun
A report said that the impact of public spending cuts announced in the 2010 Budget would be 'deeply regressive'. Assuming that the cuts fell evenly across 'non-ringfenced' departments, the average annual cut in public spending for the poorest tenth of households was £1,344, equivalent to 20.5 per cent of their household income: whereas the average annual cut for the richest tenth of households was £1,135, equivalent to just 1.6 per cent of their household income.
Source: Tim Horton and Howard Reed, Don't Forget the Spending Cuts! The real impact of Budget 2010, Trades Union Congress/UNISON
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jun
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced plans for wide-ranging reform of financial services regulation. The Financial Services Authority would be abolished. Banking regulation would be taken over by the Bank of England. A 'powerful new Consumer Protection and Markets Authority' would regulate the conduct of firms authorized to provide financial services to the public.
Source: Debate 16 June 2010, columns 875-884, House of Commons Hansard/TSO
Links: Hansard | Speech | FSA press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2010-Jun
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government published an 'emergency' Budget aimed at reducing the public finance deficit. The main measures included:
• VAT increased from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent from January 2011.
• Basic personal income tax allowance increased by £1,000 in April 2011, to £7,475.
• Council tax frozen for one year from April 2011 in England.
• Capital gains tax increased from 18 per cent to 28 per cent for higher-rate taxpayers.
• Corporation tax cut from 28 per cent to 24 per cent over three years.
• Child benefit frozen for three years from April 2011.
• Tax credits reduced from April 2011 for families earning over £40,000 per year: but low-income families to get more child tax credit – the amount per child to rise by £150 above inflation.
• Housing benefit limited to a maximum of £250 per week for a one-bedroom flat, £290 for a two-bedroom property, £340 for a three-bed property, and £400 per week for properties with more than three bedrooms.
• Housing benefit cut by 10 per cent for unemployed people after 12 months of claiming jobseekers allowance, from April 2013.
• Health in pregnancy grant abolished from April 2011, and the Sure Start maternity grant restricted to the first child.
• Lone parents expected to look for work once youngest child reached school age, from October 2011.
• From April 2011 welfare benefits, tax credits, and public service pensions (excluding the state pension and pension credit) to rise in line with the consumer price index rather than the retail price index (forecast to eventually save over £6 billion a year).
• A medical assessment for disability living allowance from 2013 for new and existing claimants.
• Public sector workers earning over £21,000 per year to face a two-year pay freeze: those earning less to get a flat pay-rise worth £250 in both years.
• The basic state pension linked to earnings from April 2011, with the pension guaranteed to rise in line with earnings, prices, or 2.5 per cent, whichever was greatest.
• Accelerated timetable for raising the state pension age to 66.
• Phasing out the default retirement age.
Source: Budget 2010, HC 61, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Budget Report | Budget notes | Impact assessments | Policy costings methodology | Rates and allowances | Supplementary material (OBR) | Hansard | HMT press release | DCLG press release | Labour Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | SNP press release | ABI press release | ACA press release | ACEVO press release | Age UK press release | AOC press release | ATOC press release | Barnardos press release | BCC press release | BSA press release | CAF press release | Carers UK press release | CBI press release | Centre for Cities press release | CFBT press release | Childrens Society press release | CIOT press release | CIPD press release | Citizens Advice press release | CML press release | Compass press release | Consumer Focus press release | CPAG press release | CPRE press release | Disability Action press release | EDCM press release | ECP press release | Fawcett Society press release | Friends of the Earth press release | FSB press release | IFS briefing | IOD press release | IPPR press release | LGA press release | Mencap press release | Million+ press release | NASUWT press release | NAT press release | NEF press release | NHF press release | NHS Confederation press release | NIESR press release | NLGN press release | NPC press release | NUT press release | PCS press release | REC press release | RIBA press release | RTPI press release | Shelter press release | SMF press release | St Mungos press release | TUC press release | Turning Point press release | UCU press release | UKHCA press release | UUK press release | Volunteering England press release | Welsh Assembly Government press release | Community Care report | Children & Young People Now report | Personnel Today report | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Jun
A think-tank report called on the new coalition government not to cut public sector jobs until the private sector jobs market had recovered. Regions that were dependent on the public sector should cut public spending in a way that did not destabilize their private sector and local economy.
Source: Ian Brinkley, Alexandra Jones and Steve Overell, Cut, Tax, Grow? A policy prospectus for the first 100 days of the new government, Work Foundation
Links: Report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2010-Jun
The new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government announced an action plan designed to stop 'excessive' regulation that was 'stifling' business growth, especially of small businesses. It set up a new committee – the Reducing Regulation Committee – to oversee the plan. There would be an immediate review of all regulation in the pipeline for implementation that had been inherited from the previous government.
Source: Press release 2 June 2010, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: DBIS press release | CBI press release | FSB press release | BCC press release
Date: 2010-Jun
A series of journal articles examined the lived experience of economic recessions.
Source: Twenty-first Century Society, Volume 5 Number 2
Links: Table of contents
Date: 2010-Jun
The Finance Act 2010 was given Royal assent. It implemented some of the proposals announced in the Pre-Budget Report (December 2009) and the Budget (March 2010).
Source: Finance Act 2010, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Text of Act | Explanatory notes | Second/third reading debates | HMT press release
Date: 2010-Apr
An article examined the theoretical stance underpinning New Labour's approach towards social policy – with particular reference to 'individualization' – and reviewed its strategies for tackling poverty and economic inequality. Despite a decade of unprecedented investment, there was an impasse in reducing child poverty, and economic inequality had increased. The assumption that education would facilitate social mobility, by serving to position the United Kingdom at the high end of the global labour market, failed to address the prevalence of the 'low pay no pay' cycle associated with the flexible labour market. Further measures were necessary to ensure that the labour market accommodated the needs of those entering it.
Source: Noel Smith, 'Economic inequality and poverty: where do we go from here?', International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Volume 30 Issue 3-4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Apr
The government published the 2010 Budget:
• Public borrowing in 2009-10 was forecast to be £167 billion – £11 billion lower than predicted in December 2009. Borrowing would fall from £163 billion in 2010-11 to £74 billion by 2014-15.
• Plans were set out to achieve £11 billion in efficiency savings by government departments by 2012-13.
• Personal income tax allowances would be frozen in 2010-11.
• A rise in fuel duty set for April 2010 would instead be phased in by January 2011. There would be real-terms increases in duties on wine, beer, spirits, and tobacco.
• A £2.5 billion support package for small businesses would be introduced.
• The work or training guarantee for unemployed people aged 18-24 would be extended to 2012.
• A £2 billion investment bank would be created to back low-carbon industries.
• Funding was announced for 20,000 new university places.
• Winter fuel allowance rates were extended for a further year.
• There would be a £4 per week rise in child tax credit for parents with young children from 2012.
• Stamp duty would be scrapped on house purchases up to £250,000 for first-time buyers, for a period of two years.
Source: Budget 2010: Securing the Recovery, HC 451, HM Treasury/TSO
Links: Report | Hansard | HMT press release | IPPR press release | TUC press release | FSB press release | Conservative Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report examined the impact of the economic recession on adult social care.
Source: Acton Shapiro Consultancy and Research, The Impact of the Economic Slowdown on Adult Social Care, Local Government Association
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Mar
A paper examined the implications of an ageing population for businesses. It considered how to retain the capabilities of older generations in the world of work; the opportunities for business in meeting the demand for goods and services from the older population; and how government policy could support these opportunities.
Source: Is Business Ready for an Ageing Nation? Economic opportunities and challenges of ageing: Discussion paper, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Paper | Analytical paper
Date: 2010-Mar
A report (by an official advisory body) said that – based on its early work – in nearly one-third of the cases examined departments were failing to assess the full impact of proposed regulation: for example, failing to quantify many of the costs and benefits, and not showing that the policy option selected would achieve its objective.
Source: <:Press release 29 March 2010, Regulatory Policy Committee
Links: RPC press release
Date: 2010-Mar
A think-tank report called for measures to create an environment more conducive to faster economic growth, including: moving unskilled benefit claimants into 'socially useful' jobs; bringing public sector remuneration into line with the private sector; radical tax simplification; and 'shedding bureaucrats'.
Source: Paul Diggle and Paul Ormerod, Be Bold for Growth, Centre for Policy Studies
Links: Report | CPS press release | New Start report
Date: 2010-Mar
An article said that there was a need to develop a social science research agenda on finance, 'financialization', and the financial crisis. It was necessary to understand the connexions of finance to society – no longer treating it as something separate from society – and to extend and deepen institutional analysis.
Source: Sylvia Walby, 'A social science research agenda on the financial crisis', Twenty-first Century Society, Volume 5 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Feb
The opposition Conservative Party set out a 'new model' of economic growth, based on a private sector recovery driven by business investment and exports, instead of consumer borrowing and government debt. It published eight benchmarks against which a future Conservative Government could be judged.
Source: A New Economic Model: Eight Benchmarks for Britain, Conservative Party
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | Speech | CBI press release | BCC press release | Labour Party press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2010-Feb
The government published a strategy for economic growth, including measures to support enterprise, competitiveness, and skills.
Source: Going for Growth: Our future prosperity, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Strategy | Hansard | DBIS press release | TUC press release | BCC press release
Date: 2010-Jan
A report by a committee of MPs called on the government to provide a more detailed plan for reducing the public sector financial deficit.
Source: Pre-Budget Report 2009, Fourth Report (Session 2009-10), HC 180, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee/TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jan
A think-tank report said that cities in England that had suffered from the highest rates of unemployment before the economic recession had also been hit hardest by the downturn, and would be the slowest to recover.
Source: Cities Outlook 2010, Centre for Cities
Links: Report | Centre for Cities press release | LGA press release | Personnel Today report | Guardian report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2010-Jan