IEA Featured Welfare

In an op-ed for The Spectator, IEA Director of Communications, Annabel Denham, highlighted that Covid has exposed some weaknesses with the UK's welfare safety-net, mainly Universal Credit (UC). Although UC has incentivised people to work with automatic tapers on increased income, the five week wait for payment means many have struggled to get by during ... Continue reading

In an op-ed for The Times, David Smith, Economics Editor of The Sunday Times, cited the IEA's opposition to the triple lock pension, which gives pensioners an increase in the state pension based on the highest of either inflation, wage growth or 2.5%. David Smith wrote: "Most economists have no problem with protecting the state ... Continue reading

In his bi-weekly column for The Times, IEA Director General Mark Littlewood turned his attention to the growing divide between the economic prosperity of younger and older people. Mark argued that the lockdown strategy, albeit justified in some cases, severely impacted the prospects of the younger generation. Whereas pensioners' incomes has been protected by the ... Continue reading

The Chancellor is under pressure to extend the £20 uplift in Universal Credit (UC) payment beyond March this year at the Spring Budget next week. However, Professor Len Shackleton, Editorial and Research Fellow at the IEA, said the top-up did not distinguish between people in need after losing jobs due to lockdown and longer-term benefits ... Continue reading

Pressure is mounting on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend the £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit beyond the end of March. However, while many people are indeed under significant financial pressure, IEA Editorial and Research Fellow Professor Len Shackleton warned against "across-the-board benefit increases" at a time when the government is borrowing "a hair-raising ... Continue reading

As calls to extend the temporary increase in Universal Credit payments beyond March gather pace, IEA Director General Mark Littlewood made the case that increasing welfare payments in the long-term would require savings to be made elsewhere in order to balance the books. Speaking on BBC Newsnight, Littlewood explained "we have to be realistic about ... Continue reading