Who pays National Insurance contributions? How do rates differ between employees, employers and the self-employed, and how have they changed over time?

Our National Insurance contributions explained page on IFS Taxlab explains all.

Find out more: ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-…

Join us next week for our one-day academic conference on higher education with sessions on access, funding systems and lessons from other countries, co-organised with CPP at IFS, Centre for Ed Policy & Equalising Opportunities, Global Economic Challenges Network and UCL Social Research Institute (SRI).

📅 Find out more and sign up here: ifs.org.uk/events/higher-…

This may be my favourite podcast I've recorded. I somehow get to attack overpromoted spads and almost bury industrial strategy before praising it. Hope you like it.

I am very excited to work with Imran Rasul Joe Tomlinson elisa facchetti on this!

elisa facchetti and I will mainly be focusing on how to use new UK admin data on civil and family justice to improve outcomes for those with legal needs. More coming soon….!

'There's a finite amount of resource, and everybody's dipping their hands into it, and everybody's got an incentive to get as much as they can from it.'

🎙 Giles Wilkes explains the 'common pool problem' with government spending.

Listen to our podcast: linktr.ee/ifszoomsin

Sure Start, England’s first large programme to provide holistic support to families with children under five, greatly improved disadvantaged children’s GCSE results.

Read our Nuffield Foundation-funded report on Sure Start's impact on educational outcomes: ifs.org.uk/publications/s…

'Fiscal rules enable the Treasury to [draw the line] in such a way that you can apply it to the individual conversations you are having with the Secretary of State.'

🎙 Paul Johnson and David Gauke discuss fiscal rules in our podcast.

Listen here: linktr.ee/ifszoomsin

What challenges and trade-offs face the next Chancellor of the Exchequer?

Try our new interactive tool to make key public spending and tax decisions, in partnership with Nesta.

ifs.org.uk/bethechancellor

📈 #IFSSatStat : 4.2 million working-age people in Great Britain – one in ten – receive at least one health-related benefit.

This could rise to 5.4 million by 2028–29 if the large increase in cases since the pandemic continues.

Read our report: ifs.org.uk/publications/r…

What's striking from today's ONS UK public sector productivity numbers is that productivity did not change at all between 2022 and 2023. That's similar to what we have seen in English NHS data. Suggests there is not going to be an easy and automatic return to pre-pandemic levels.

Podcast: Why should voters care about the government’s industrial strategy?

Paul Johnson, Hannah White, Anand Menon and guest Giles Wilkes explore what industrial strategy means for anyone voting in the 2024 election.

Listen to The Expert Factor: instituteforgovernment.org.uk/podcast/expert…

We're co-hosting a one-day academic conference on higher education access and funding, co-organised with Centre for Ed Policy & Equalising Opportunities, Global Economic Challenges Network and UCL Social Research Institute (SRI).

Tuesday 14 May | 11:00 - 17:35 | In person at UCL and online

Find out more and sign up to join ⬇ ifs.org.uk/events/higher-…

'The statement 'we opened the books and discovered we needed to do something' would annoy me. Because the books are open.'

Paul Johnson on the need for honesty about the choices and trade offs facing the next government.

Listen to the podcast: linktr.ee/ifszoomsin

Public sector productivity 6.8% down on Q4 2019 is pretty worrying. Huge drop.

Consistent with what we know: genuine increases in spending, but struggling public services. E.g. activity in hospitals nowhere near reflecting additional resources.

I’m slightly late to this, but the recent fall in the number of visa applications from health and social care workers is truly remarkable. Down from 18,300 applicants in August 2023 to 2,400 in March 2024.

gov.uk/government/sta…

With #council election results rolling in, here’s a timely reminder about my and Tony Travers’ @theIFS podcast on councils’ finances, and why they’re under pressure

Hopefully interesting and informative for interested citizens and new councillors alike!

EVENT: Professor Heidi L. Williams will give the 2024 IFS Annual Lecture on ‘Innovation and productivity policies: a budgetary perspective’.

Wednesday 15 May | 6:30-8pm | The View, The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Register to attend in person here: ifs.org.uk/events/ifs-ann…

Tonight IFS Director Paul Johnson will be giving this year's Clare College Distinguished Lecture on the Nuffield Foundation-funded Inequality: IFS Deaton Review.

📺 Watch here on Zoom from 5:30pm: clare.cam.ac.uk/conferencing-e…

📗 Find out more about the Review: ifs.org.uk/inequality/

Want to look up the impact of a policy you’ve heard in the news?

Or are you ready to put your own policies to the test?

Now is your chance to be the Chancellor with our new interactive tool, in partnership with Nesta.

Try out the tool here: ifs.org.uk/bethechancellor

What type of research do we do at Institute for Fiscal Studies? Check out this video by Imran Rasul outlining how we cover the whole life cycle and the (un)intended consequences of policies 📈⏬