A report examined the evidence on the small and medium sized business sector, to inform government policy.
Source: SMEs: The key enablers of business success and the economic rationale for government intervention, Analysis Paper 2, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined how the demand for business mentors could be increased among small and medium enterprises in the United Kingdom.
Source: BMG Research and Leandro Galli, Demand for Mentoring Among SMEs, Research Report 158, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined early case study examples of localized policy interventions relating to business and skills support. It explored the rationale for services, how policies were designed and implemented, what enabled successful outcomes, the barriers faced, and lessons learnt.
Source: ICF GHK, Research on Understanding Localised Policy Interventions in Business Support and Skills, Research Report 156, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
The Office for Budget Responsibility's economic and fiscal outlook was published. The document informed the Autumn Statement.
Source: Office for Budget Responsibility: Economic and fiscal outlook, Cm 8748, HM Treasury, TSO
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Dec
The government published its new strategy for small businesses in the United Kingdom.
Source: Small Business: Great ambition, HM Government
Links: Strategy | DBIS press release | Wales Office press release
Date: 2013-Dec
A think tank report examined the impact of potential interest rate rises on households in Britain. It examined a range of potential economic scenarios and outlined the possible consequences, warning that the numbers of households in 'debt peril' would rise. The report said that further analysis would now be undertaken to identify potential policy responses.
Source: Matthew Whittaker, Closer to the Edge? Debt repayments in 2018 under different household income and borrowing cost scenarios, Resolution Foundation
Links: Report | Resolution Foundation press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Dec
The coalition government published the 2013 Autumn Statement on the economy and public finances. Growth forecasts for the United Kingdom had been revised upwards by the Office for Budget Responsibility, but the government said that spending needed to continue to be restrained. The statement contained a series of measures that were to be fiscally neutral overall. The measures included:
• A cap on overall welfare spending, to exclude the state pension and most cyclical benefits for jobseekers.
• A reduction in departmental budgets for 2014-15 (except for the National Health Service, schools, security and intelligence agencies, HMRC, and local authorities).
• An increase in the state pension; pensioners and some older workers to be permitted to make additional voluntary national insurance contributions; and an increase in state pension age to 68 in mid 2030s, and then to 69 in late 2040s.
• Loans to unblock large housing developments; regeneration of urban housing estates; councils to sell off valuable council housing; working people in social housing to gain priority right to move for work; and Right to Buy to be expanded.
• Free school meals for children in reception and Years 1 and 2.
• Additional support for 16-17 year olds who had few qualifications to find apprenticeships or traineeships; 18-21 year olds without maths and English skills to be required to train in those subjects (or lose benefits), and to be mandated to take on traineeship, work experience or community service after six months.
• Apprenticeship funding to be administered through HMRC; an additional 20,000 higher apprenticeships to be provided over the next two years; and legislation to remove employer national insurance contributions on employees under the age of 21.
• 30,000 additional higher education places in 2014, with the cap removed in 2015; and additional funding for science, technology and engineering courses – to be financed from the sale of the student loan book.
• Married couples to share tax allowance, up to £1000.
• Infrastructure spending, set out in the previously published National Infrastructure Plan.
• Reduction in energy levies, to be reflected in consumer bills; changes in the pricing structure for wind energy; and tax reliefs for shale gas exploration.
Source: Autumn Statement 2013, Cm 8747, HM Treasury, TSO
Links: Report | Distributional analysis | Policy costings | Data sources | DWP note on pensions | DCLG press release | HMT press release | Northern Ireland Office press release | Scotland Office press release | Scottish government press release | Wales Office press release | Hansard | 4Children press release | Action for Children press release | Age UK press release | ACEVO press release | Barnardo's press release | BBA press release | BCC press release | BMA press release | CBI press release | Children's Society press release | CIH press release | CIPD press release | Citizens Advice press release | Gingerbread press release | Green Party press release | HEFCE press release | IEA press release | IFS briefing documents | JRF press release | LGA press release | London Councils press release | NCB press release | NFA press release | Oxfam press release | Resolution Foundation press release | Russell Group press release | SMF press release | SNP press release | UUK press release | WLGA briefing | BBC report I | BBC report II | BBC report III | BBC report IV | BBC report V | FE News report | Guardian report I | Guardian report II | Guardian report III | Guardian report IV | Guardian report V | Inside Housing report I | Inside Housing report II | Inside Housing report III | Inside Housing report IV | Inside Housing report V | Telegraph report I | Telegraph report II | Telegraph report III | Telegraph report IV
Date: 2013-Dec
A government report outlined the implications of Scottish independence for economic policy choices.
Source: Building Security and Creating Opportunity: Economic policy choices in an independent Scotland, Scottish Government
Links: Report | Summary | Scottish Government press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Nov
An article examined the cause of the recent economic crisis. It said that the economic imbalances that caused the crisis arose from financial deregulation having interacted with the macroeconomic effects of rising inequality.
Source: Engelbert Stockhammer, 'Rising inequality as a cause of the present crisis', Cambridge Journal of Economics, Online first
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Nov
A new book examined economic policy since 2008 and discussed the potential to rebalance the United Kingdom economy and restore the conditions for sustainable economic growth.
Source: Patrick Diamond, Transforming the Market: Towards a new political economy, Civitas
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Nov
A report set out a plan to 'detoxify' the economy and invest £50 billion in green alternatives. The plan would include ending zero-hours contracts, removing hidden bank subsidies, cancelling the Private Finance Initiative, ending tax avoidance and evasion, and stopping the high-speed rail link.
Source: A National Plan for the UK: From Austerity to the Age of the Green New Deal, Green New Deal Group
Links: Report | GND press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Sep
The opposition Labour Party published a policy document on the economy. It said that job creation and economic growth would be the top priorities for a future Labour government, with a fairer sharing of the burdens involved in cutting the public deficit. Action would be taken to tackle excessive top pay rates and to ensure that the gains from company success were more equally shared. Support would be given to the campaign for a living wage. A lower 10 pence starting rate of income tax would be reintroduced (paid for by a tax on houses worth over £2 million). The exploitative use of zero-hours contracts would be banned. Free childcare for children aged 3-4 would be extended from 15 to 25 hours per week for working parents (paid for by an increase in a levy on banks). Gas and electricity bills for every home and business would be frozen for 20 months. 'Structural' social security spending would be capped. The 'bedroom tax' on social housing tenants would be scrapped.
Source: One Nation Economy, Labour Party
Links: Report | BBC report
Date: 2013-Sep
The Finance Bill was given a third reading, and the Act subsequently received Royal assent. The Act implemented measures contained in the 2013 Budget.
Source: Finance Act 2013, HM Treasury, TSO | Debate 2 July 2013, columns 786-892, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Act | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2013-Jul
A paper examined whether social cohesion made economic reforms more likely in developed countries. Most dimensions of social cohesion were found not to influence reform capacity. However, views of fairness based on merit (in contrast to equality), and to some extent social divisions, were found to have a positive effect on economic reforms. Social cohesion might thus be a 'double-edged sword' – especially so when it came to economic reforms in an efficiency-enhancing free-market direction.
Source: Hannes Andreasson, Niklas Elert, and Nils Karlson, Does Social Cohesion Really Promote Reforms?, Working Paper 33, WWWforEurope Project (European Commission)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the 2013 Budget.
Source: Budget 2013: Government and Office for Budget Responsibility Responses to the Committee's Ninth Report of Session 2012-13, Second Special Report (Session 2013-14), HC 370, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO
Links: Response
Notes: MPs report (April 2013)
Date: 2013-Jul
A paper said that there was 'no robust evidence' for a relationship between national income per capita and life satisfaction in either Germany or the United Kingdom.
Source: Tobias Pfaff and Johannes Hirata, Testing the Easterlin Hypothesis with Panel Data: The dynamic relationship between life satisfaction and economic growth in Germany and in the UK, SOEPpaper 554, German Institute for Economic Research
Links: Paper
See also: Tobias Pfaff, Income Comparisons, Income Adaptation, and Life Satisfaction: How robust are estimates from survey data?, SOEPpaper 555, German Institute for Economic Research
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper provided an economic analysis of the challenge of meeting the Europe 2020 objectives with regard to employment and social inclusion. It said that radical measures were necessary if the European Union were to be able to achieve the ambitious goals that it had set. Serious consideration should be given to:
Measures to encourage service sector employment, with particular reference to the demand side and the financing of new jobs.
Re-consideration of the employment target, replacing it by full-time equivalents, and possibly moving to an 'activity' target.
An EU unemployment insurance scheme, involving extended duration benefits.
An EU-wide child basic income, and possibly an EU basic income for all.
Taxation of lifetime capital receipts, and, possibly, EU child trust funds.
Measures, such as product market regulation requiring universal access, to ensure that low-income consumers were not excluded.
Source: Tony Atkinson, Ensuring Social Inclusion in Changing Labour And Capital Markets, Economic Papers 481, European Commission
Date: 2013-Jun
A think-tank report put forward an alternative plan for the future of public spending. It proposed: A £55 billion fiscal stimulus in green and social infrastructure spending; tough fiscal rules with democratic fiscal oversight; the elimination of the structural deficit (once economic recovery was assured) through a series of progressive tax rises and cuts in wasteful public spending; and a restructuring of public services to ensure sustained efficiency, responsiveness, and innovation.
Source: Joe Cox, Invest to Grow: A spending review to get Britain moving, Compass
Links: Report | Compass press release
Date: 2013-Jun
The European Commission published a series of country-specific recommendations aimed at promoting socially inclusive economic growth. It said that fairness was essential for the sustainability and effectiveness of reform. The crisis had already had a lasting impact on the most disadvantaged groups, with the share of people at risk of poverty increasing in many countries. Several member states needed to pay more attention to combating different forms of poverty – child poverty, homelessness, in-work poverty, and over-indebtedness of households – and to ensure the effectiveness of the welfare systems that dealt with those affected. The Commission said that the United Kingdom government should enhance efforts to support low-income households and reduce child poverty by ensuring that the universal credit and other welfare reforms delivered a fair tax-benefit system with clearer work incentives and support services; and it should accelerate the implementation of planned measures to reduce the costs of childcare and improve its quality and availability.
Source: Moving Europe Beyond the Crisis, European Commission
Links: Report | Country-specific recommendations (links) | UK recommendations | UK working document | UK in-depth review | European Commission press release | FEANTSA press release
Date: 2013-May
A report by a committee of MPs examined measures announced in the 2013 Budget statement. It warned that the introduction of a new single-tier state pension might lead to the closure of some defined-benefit occupational schemes. It also expressed concern that new 'Help to Buy' housing schemes gave the government a financial interest in maintaining house prices in order to limit losses to the taxpayer.
Source: Budget 2013, Ninth Report (Session 2012-13), HC 1063, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report | New Statesman report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Apr
A think-tank report said that the policy of austerity had increased 'idleness', and given rise to the additional problem of disguised underemployment. It called for a fiscal policy designed to promote employment, coupled with a redesign of the income tax, national insurance, and benefits systems. Fiscal policy should maximize the multiplier impact of public spending: tax cuts should have a low priority; benefit cuts should be avoided; and a programme should be created of rapid and large-scale investment in public works. All families should be given an unconditional, tax-free basic income payment that would be set at levels sufficient to alleviate poverty. The existing income tax and national insurance contributions systems should be replaced by a single income tax structure that was clear and progressive.
Source: Richard Murphy and Howard Reed, Financing the Social State: Towards a full employment economy, Centre for Labour and Social Studies
Date: 2013-Apr
A report provided a gender impact assessment of the coalition government s March 2013 Budget, describing it as a 'Budget for inequality and recession'.
Source: Susan Himmelweit and Diane Elson, The Impact on Women of Budget 2013: A budget for inequality and recession, Women's Budget Group
Links: Report | WBG press release (1) | WBG press release (2)
Date: 2013-Apr
The coalition government published an annual report on progress towards the goals contained in the European Union's strategy for sustainable economic growth (Europe 2020). It included an account of action taken on specific problem areas that the EU had identified, including: a poorly functioning housing market; a shortage of the right skills; and a high number of workless households. On poverty and social exclusion, it said that it was creating a new 'welfare system' that was fairer, more affordable, and better able to tackle the causes of poverty, worklessness, and 'welfare dependency'. It was seeking to establish work as the primary route out of poverty, and eradicate child poverty.
Source: Europe 2020: UK National Reform Programme 2013, HM Treasury
Links: Report
See also: Europe 2020: Scottish National Reform Programme 2013, Scottish Government
Date: 2013-Apr
The Finance (No. 2) Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to implement measures contained in the 2013 Budget.
Source: Finance (No. 2) Bill, HM Treasury, TSO | Debate 15 April 2013, columns 54-133, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard
Date: 2013-Apr
A think-tank report said that the European Union had allowed the global crisis to divert it from the goal of inclusive economic growth promised under the Europe 2020 strategy.
Source: Renaud Thillaye, Gearing EU Governance towards Future Growth: The side-lining of Europe 2020 and its worrying consequences, Policy Network
Date: 2013-Mar
An article said that social market philosophy provided neither a useful analytical framework for understanding modern capitalism nor the policy tools to address the existing economic and social predicament. The market economy was a dynamic but not self-regulating system that had an impact on four other economies – of the natural environment, of family and care, of voluntary association, and of the public sector – all of which operated under different motivations and allocative principles. The role of government was to balance the values created by different kinds of institutions and to constrain the dynamic impacts of market forces.
Source: Michael Jacobs, 'Beyond the social market: rethinking capitalism and public policy', Political Quarterly, Volume 84 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
The Finance Bill was published. The Bill was designed to implement measures contained in the 2013 Budget.
Source: Finance (No. 2) Bill, HM Treasury, TSO
Links: Bill | Explanatory notes | HMT press release
Date: 2013-Mar
The coalition government presented its 2013 Budget statement. Forecast economic growth for 2013 was halved, to 0.6 per cent. After excluding special factors, public sector borrowing was expected to fall marginally in 2013-14: but forecasts of public debt were revised sharply upwards, with a peak of 85.6 per cent of national income reached in 2016-17, a year later than previously expected.
The main Budget measures included:
• Departmental spending would be cut by a further £1.1 billion in 2013-14 and £1.2 billion in 2014-15 – equivalent to a 1 per cent cut for most departments. Schools and health budgets would remain protected, and local government and police allocations that had been set for 2013-14 would not be altered.
• Public sector pay increases would be capped at 1 per cent for a further year in 2015-16.
• The annual personal income tax allowance would rise to £10,000 from 2014-15, a year earlier than previously proposed. This was a real-terms increase of £240 on the 2013-14 level of £9,440, costing £1.1 billion.
• The main rate of corporation tax would be cut by a further 1 percentage point in April 2015, to 20 per cent, at a cost of £865 million per year by 2017-18. Banks would be prevented from benefiting from the cut by an increase in levies.
• All businesses and charities would be entitled to a £2,000 reduction in employer's national insurance contributions from April 2014, costing £1.7 billion per year by 2017-18.
• A new 'Help to Buy' scheme would offer financial help to home-buyers. Equity loans worth up to 20 per cent of the value of a new-build home would be available to anyone for three years from April 2013. The government would also guarantee up to 15 per cent of mortgages on all properties (both old and new) for three years from January 2014, under an extension of the previous 'NewBuy' guarantee scheme..
The Budget also confirmed plans, announced in advance, for a new system of childcare vouchers, and to bring forward by a year both the introduction of a new flat-rate state pension and a cap on lifetime social care costs.
Source: Budget 2013, HC 1033, HM Treasury, TSO | Impact on Households: Distributional analysis to accompany Budget 2013, HM Treasury
Links: Report | Household impact statement | OBR report | Hansard | HOC research brief | Barnardos press release | BSA press release | CBI press release | Childrens Commissioner press release | Childrens Society press release | CIH press release | Citizens Advice press release | CML press release | CPAG press release | ECP press release | Family Action press release | Fawcett Society press release | Gingerbread press release | HBF press release | LGA press release | LITRG press release | JRF press release | NHF press release | Resolution Foundation press release | Shelter press release | TUC press release | WBG press release | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Community Care report | Daily Mail report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Mar
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the 2012 Autumn Statement. It rejected a suggestion that the ring-fencing of some spending areas (such as health) was difficult to justify.
Source: Autumn Statement 2012: Government Response to the Committee s Seventh Report, Fourth Special Report (Session 2012–13), HC 1076, House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, TSO
Links: Response
Notes: MPs report (January 2013)
Date: 2013-Mar
A report said that the coalition government needed to do more to combat inequality by raising the number and quality of jobs, investing in people s skills, and increasing incentives to move off benefits and into work.
Source: OECD Economic Surveys: United Kingdom 2013, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | OECD press release | Resolution Foundation press release
Date: 2013-Feb
A think-tank report said that on existing plans public service spending in 'unprotected' Whitehall departments could fall by one-third between 2010-11 and 2017-18. If departments continued with trajectories implied by existing plans, public sector employment would have fallen by 1.2 million by 2017-18. Nonetheless public borrowing was forecast to be £64 billion higher in 2014-15 than the coalition government had originally planned.
Source: Carl Emmerson, Paul Johnson, and Helen Miller (eds), The IFS Green Budget, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Report | IFS press release | Nuffield Foundation press release | Labour Party press release | TUC press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Feb
A paper examined changes in the European Union's co-ordination of employment and social policies after the introduction of stricter economic governance. It considered the ambiguities that arose concerning the appropriateness of co-ordination instruments, and how this ambiguity might bring employment and social policy elements within the range of 'hard law' surveillance.
Source: Sonja Bekker, The EU's Stricter Economic Governance: A Step Towards More Binding Coordination of Social Policies?, Discussion Paper SP IV 2013-501, Social Science Research Centre (Berlin)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Feb
A new book examined the impact of austerity policies in European countries, highlighting the potential for citizen involvement in policy development.
Source: Stephanie Petrie (ed.), Controversies in Policy Research: Critical analysis for a new era of austerity and privation, Palgrave Macmillan
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Feb
Researchers compared the distributional effects of 'fiscal consolidation' measures in nine European Union countries (including the United Kingdom) that had experienced large budget deficits following the financial crisis of the late 2000s and subsequent economic downturn. The countries had chosen different policy mixes to achieve varying degrees of fiscal consolidation, with the burden shared differently across the income distribution. The UK was among six countries where those on the highest incomes had lost a higher proportion of their incomes than those in poverty. Including increases in VAT altered the comparative picture by making the policy packages appeared more regressive, to varying extents.
Source: Silvia Avram, Francesco Figari, Chrysa Leventi, Horacio Levy, Jekaterina Navicke, Manos Matsaganis, Eva Militaru, Alari Paulus, Olga Rastrigina, and Holly Sutherland, The Distributional Effects of Fiscal Consolidation in Nine EU Countries, Social Situation Observatory (European Commission)
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper examined the equity implications of 'fiscal consolidation' measures in developed (OECD) countries. There was scope to skew consolidation efforts in favour of more equity with only limited adverse impact on potential growth, including: increases in the effective retirement age; raising efficiency in the education and healthcare systems; cutting certain tax expenditures; raising taxes on immovable property; and broadly based consumption taxes. Increasing household direct taxes would reduce income inequality, while cutting transfers by the same amount would have a larger and opposite effect. However, raising progressive labour income taxes could have adverse effects on long-run growth. Cuts in government wages and employment could yield fast consolidation gains, but needed to be accompanied by increases in efficiency of service delivery to avoid hitting people in poverty. Cuts in unemployment-related and disability benefits were likely to hit poorer people in the first place: but they might have less adverse effects on inequality in the long run once employment increased in response to a better incentive structure.
Source: Lukasz Rawdanowicz, Eckhard Wurzel, and Ane Kathrine Christensen, The Equity Implications of Fiscal Consolidation, Economics Working Paper 1013, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Date: 2013-Jan
The Office for National Statistics said (following consultation) that the formula used to produce the retail prices index (RPI) did not meet international standards, and recommended that a new index be published. But it said that production of the RPI should be maintained in order to provide continuity for users.
Source: Press release 10 January 2013, Office for National Statistics
Links: ONS press release | CPAC information note | Hansard | RSS press release | Daily Mail report | Guardian report | Professional Pensions report
Notes: Consultation document (October 2012)
Date: 2013-Jan
An article examined why the fiscal 'burden' of the welfare state inspired more protest in some European countries than others. Fiscal protest was most prevalent where there was a poor fit between tax policy and social spending commitments. Policy incoherence produced pressure for fiscal reforms, which in turn provoked protest. Tax protest should not be conflated with welfare backlash, nor should it be assumed that tax protest in welfare states was aligned with neo-liberal interests.
Source: Isaac William Martin and Nadav Gabay, 'Fiscal protest in thirteen welfare states', Socio-Economic Review, Volume 11 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan
The European Commission published an annual review of social and employment developments, highlighting a 'deepening economic and social crisis'. A new divide was emerging between (on the one hand) countries that seemed trapped in a downward spiral of falling output, massively rising unemployment, and eroding disposable incomes and (on the other) those that had at least so far shown some resilience – partly thanks to better functioning labour markets and more robust welfare systems. The crisis had affected groups already at heightened risk, notably young adults, children, and to some extent migrants, thus contributing to social polarization. Europe had been struggling to find appropriate policy responses. There was a need to modernize social protection systems and create better and fairer taxation systems. An effective social protection system that helped those in need was not an obstacle to prosperity, but was in fact an indispensable element of it.
Source: Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2012, European Commission
Links: Report | European Commission press release
Date: 2013-Jan
An article examined the recent shift towards an emphasis on 'resilience' in policy and academic fields. This shift was problematic for several reasons: it supported normative value judgements; it might overemphasize the ability of people to 'bounce back', and undervalued the hidden costs of resilience, especially those with gendered dimensions; and it might be associated with policy prescriptions that shifted responsibility for dealing with the crisis away from the public sphere.
Source: Elizabeth Harrison, 'Bouncing back? Recession, resilience and everyday lives', Critical Social Policy, Volume 33 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jan