Latest news with #TheResolutionFoundation
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ministers considering scrapping two-child benefit cap, education secretary says
Ministers are considering scrapping the two-child benefit cap, the education secretary told Sky News. Bridget Phillipson, asked by Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast if the cap should be lifted, said: "It's not off the table. "It's certainly something that we're considering." Politics latest: The policy means most families cannot claim means-tested benefits for more than their first two children born after April 2017. Ms Phillipson's comments are the strongest a minister has made about the policy potentially being scrapped. Analysis by The Resolution Foundation thinktank over the weekend found 470,000 children would be lifted out of poverty if parents could claim benefits for more than two children. However, Ms Phillipson said the government inherited a "really difficult situation" with public finances from the Conservative government. "These are not easy or straightforward choices in terms of how we stack it up, but we know the damage child poverty causes," she added. The education secretary, who is also head of the government's child poverty taskforce, said ministers are trying to help in other ways, such as expanding funded childcare hours and opening free breakfast clubs. She said it is "the moral purpose of Labour governments to ensure that everyone, no matter their background, can get on in life". Her "personal mission" is to tackle child poverty, she said. Read more:UK to open talks with Kosovo about hosting 'return hub' - report Sir Keir Starmer is said to have privately backed abolishing the two-child limit and requested the Treasury find the £3.5bn to do so, The Observer reported on Sunday. The government's child poverty strategy, which the taskforce is working on, has been delayed from its original publication date in the spring. Whether to scrap the two-child benefit cap is one of the main issues it is looking at.
The Sun
24-04-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Complex Universal Credit savings rules mean 2million families miss out on cash
A COMPLEX Universal Credit savings rule is seeing 2million miss out on benefit cash. A new report has found an increasing number of families are having their payments reduced or stopped due to frozen thresholds. 1 Universal Credit is a means-tested benefit which means your income and "capital" is taken into account when deciding whether you qualify and how much you can get. Money stowed away in bank accounts and ISAs as well as any cash you have is classed as capital. But if you breach certain capital thresholds your Universal Credit payments are either reduced or stopped. Have less than £6,000 in capital and you won't be deducted anything. However, if you've got between £6,000 and £16,000 stashed away you will have some Universal Credit taken away while anyone with more than £16,000 is no longer eligible for the benefit. Now, a new report from The Resolution Foundation has found around 2million families eligible for Universal Credit are having their payments reduced because they're breaching these thresholds. The number of people breaching them is rising too, as they have been frozen since 2006 and haven't kept up with inflation. In 2006-08, only 35% of UK families on Universal Credit had capital greater than £6,000, but by 2020-22 that had risen to 45%, it found. Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "If these (capital) limits are too low, there's a risk people will avoid putting away enough to protect themselves – for fear of losing their benefits. "The fact that the thresholds have been frozen for so long means that someone who simply worked to ensure their savings kept up with inflation could easily have been dragged over a threshold." How does work affect Universal Credit? The Resolution Foundation says the current rules around capital thresholds undermine government savings schemes like Help to Save and Lifetime ISAs. Meanwhile, it says the manner of the thresholds mean those on Universal Credit face a "cliff-edge" of losing some or all of their benefit even if they breach these limits by just a few pounds. Molly Broome, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: "The long-term neglect of the capital rules in Universal Credit means they are now undermining wider Government efforts to encourage low-income families to save. 'Important schemes such as Help to Save and Lifetime ISAs should be exempted from these capital rules so that families doing the right thing by saving into them aren't penalised for doing so. 'And with the Government currently reviewing Universal Credit, it should take the opportunity to index the capital thresholds to inflation, to prevent the system from penalising more families every year." A Government spokesperson said: "We support millions of people through Universal Credit every year, and are committed to reviewing the benefit to make sure it is still doing the job we want it to. "It is important we continue to strike the balance between protecting low-income households and our duty to the taxpayer, and the current thresholds allow people on Universal Credit to continue saving, whilst encouraging them to manage their own day-to-day support." How do the capital limits work? Your Universal Credit payments can be affected by any money, savings and investments you have, known as capital. Any properties you own but do not live in also have a bearing on your payments. If you have capital worth between £6,000 and £16,000, the DWP takes money off your monthly payment. Anyone with capital over £16,000 does not receive any Universal Credit. Your Universal Credit goes down by £4.35 for every £250 you have in capital between these two amounts. Another £4.35 is taken off for any remaining amount that is not a complete £250. So, if you have capital of £6,300, and classed as having £300 in capital over the £6,000 threshold, your Universal Credit is reduced by £8.70 (2 x £4.35 a month). If you have capital of £14,500, you are classed as having £8,500 of capital over the £6,000 limit. Your Universal Credit payments are reduced by £147.90 (34 x £4.35 a month). If you have £17,000 in capital, you do not qualify for Universal Credit. The Government has a list on its website of what it classes as capital. Some of these include cash, money in a bank account, any savings accounts including ISAs, savings for children in your name and more. Any income you've earned, say from salary from a job, is counted as capital if you have not spent it by the end of the assessment period after the one it was received in. You can find out more via You can also use a free calculator to find out how much any capital you've got will affect a Universal Credit claim. Charity Turn2Us' can be found via Are you missing out on benefits? YOU can use a benefits calculator to help check that you are not missing out on money you are entitled to Charity Turn2Us' benefits calculator works out what you could get. Entitledto's free calculator determines whether you qualify for various benefits, tax credit and Universal Credit. and charity StepChange both have benefits tools powered by Entitledto's data. You can use Policy in Practice's calculator to determine which benefits you could receive and how much cash you'll have left over each month after paying for housing costs. Your exact entitlement will only be clear when you make a claim, but calculators can indicate what you might be eligible for. .
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chancellor urged to raise taxes ahead of spring statement
The Resolution Foundation has called on chancellor Rachel Reeves to raise taxes and "act decisively to meet her fiscal rules" ahead of this month's spring statement. It said higher interest rates, weaker growth and lower tax revenues mean that fresh fiscal tightening is likely to be needed when Reeves delivers her speech to the House of Commons on 26 March. The group, however, warned that she must avoid hitting the living standards of lower income families in the process, given that the jobs market is already in recession territory. "Extending the freeze in personal tax thresholds by a further two years to 2029-30 would raise around £8bn," the Foundation said. "Crucially, this would not affect living standards in the short term as the policy wouldn't take effect until April 2028, while 80% of extra revenue would come from families in the richest half of the income distribution." Read more: Trending tickers: Ulta Beauty, Docusign, Rubrik, Tesla and Berkeley It added: "Less than five months on from the chancellor's autumn budget, the UK's economic outlook has deteriorated markedly. GDP is now expected to be around 1.2% lower, CPI inflation 0.4 percentage points higher, and interest rates expectations 0.4 percentage points higher than the OBR forecast at the time of the autumn budget. In addition to this, the Foundation's employment estimate, which uses population figures from the Office for National Statistics and HMRC payroll data, suggests the number of people in work is falling at a pace consistent with a recession. It estimates that this deterioration would lead the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to revise down its projection for the current account balance from a surplus of £9.9bn in 2029-30 to a deficit of around £4.4bn. This means that without fresh policy action the chancellor would be breaking her newly-legislated fiscal rules. One option is for the finance minister to trim the spending envelope ahead of the spending review, the analysis found. Reducing the annual real increase from 2026-27 to 2029-30 from 1.3 to 1.2% would save £3bn in 2029-30. But it warned that with 'unprotected' departments already facing cuts of around £9.7bn after next year, reductions risk further damaging front line services such as social care, the justice system and policing that are already under strain. Read more: Stocks to watch this week: Tencent, Micron, Nike, Prudential and JD Wetherspoon James Smith, research director at the Resolution Foundation, said: 'The UK's economic outlook has declined markedly since the Budget last Autumn. Weaker growth and higher interest rate expectations look set to turn the UK's projected current surplus of £10bninto a deficit of around £5bn. 'The chancellor must act decisively to meet her fiscal rules. But with the jobs market in recession territory, lower income households shouldn't bear the brunt of any consolidation. 'Crucially, she should avoid turning the spring statement into a 'sticking plaster' Budget, with long-term thinking on welfare reform undermined by the quest for short-term savings that could cause real harm. 'And with Britain's fiscal pressures more likely to intensify rather than fade away, continuing to rule out tax rises is going to make future Budgets even more challenging to deliver.'
Telegraph
25-02-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
‘I ditched banking to run a bookshop – and happily took a 75pc pay cut'
What is the biggest pay cut you've taken in your career? Email: money@ The prospect of working in finance had never filled Sarah Dennis with joy. But as a maths graduate, accepting a 12-week internship – and then a graduate job – at the investment bank, UBS, felt like the done thing. 'I started in operations, before moving into back office logistics and then into risk control, where I was able to use my maths skills more,' explains Dennis. 'I worked with good people, the work was challenging, and it enabled me to have a nice lifestyle, though it was never particularly exciting.' Dennis has since traded in her 'nice lifestyle' to own and run a couple of charming bookshops in the Cotswolds. She earns much less, but for her, the switch has been worth it. It's a move that goes firmly against the grain of standard career progression, where workers jostle for the next promotion and pay rise. The drive to earn more money is especially sought-after against an economic backdrop of high inflation and increased living costs, regardless of the job satisfaction that comes with it. In fact, the assumption tends to be that it's nigh on impossible to have both a job you like, and a salary you're satisfied with. Yet a report from British think tank, The Resolution Foundation, showed that although workers in poorer households remain less likely to be satisfied with their job, and more likely to have an insecure employment contract, good pay has become less of a priority for all workers. When asked about what they considered to be the most important aspects of work, an overwhelming majority of low-to-middle income and higher-income workers emphasised liking the work they do, having job security and having good relationships with colleagues and bosses. Notably, for both low-to-middle income and higher-income workers, 'good pay' ranks far below these job considerations. This is supported by a January 2025 study from the recruitment agency, Robert Walters, which found that 60pc of professionals are willing to stick to a lower-paying job if it offers flexibility, rather than switching roles solely for better pay. So, what's it like to be in love with your work, and not care about making stacks of cash? 'I asked myself – why wasn't I doing a job that made me happy?' Dennis had tried to leave her career years before she eventually cut ties. Eight years into her role at the investment bank, she told her boss she was ready to try something new. The response was an offer to move to New York. 'Just after the financial crash in 2008, I went to lead a team tasked with recreating the entire stress testing framework,' she explains. It was challenging, and although her New York life was great and she was earning more than £125,000, she kept thinking: there must be more to life. Then her father died from pancreatic cancer in his mid-60s. He'd always had plans to travel when he retired, and it made Dennis question everything. 'Why wasn't I doing a job that made me happy?' she says. 'So I quit my job, put everything in storage, and travelled around South America and Southeast Asia.' During the 11-month trip, Dennis began thinking seriously about making a career out of books, which had been her eternal happy place. 'I came back and worked at Waterstones to check that bookselling wasn't some weird romantic notion,' she explains. 'To build up some capital, I went back into finance and withdrew my US pension pot – I took a tax hit, but it was worth it.' She bought Mostly Books in Abingdon in 2017, followed by Borzoi Bookshop in Stow-on-the-Wold, in 2021. With some savvy planning, Dennis ensured the huge drop in earnings – to roughly a quarter of what she was making in New York – didn't come as too much of a shock. Before leaving banking, Dennis set herself up with a manageable mortgage and a modest deposit on a house, and used travelling on a shoestring to reset her attitude to personal finances. 'I also spent six weeks working with a charity that helps Peruvians find microfinance deals, which reset my ideas of what I needed to get by,' she explains. 'Although I still do what I want, within reason, I have to think about money more than I ever used to.' Dennis splits most of her time between the two bookshops, and the business is always front of mind. 'I'm lucky now, because I have a strong team of 11 staff, so I can take a day off if I need, though that's not very often,' she says. 'It's a tricky time for retail generally, so we have to work really hard.' Although she recognised that working for a big corporation offers some form of security, her time in banking showed that risk is around every corner. And, for her, the positives of bookselling far outweigh the negatives. Now 46, and surrounded by a supportive network of other independent booksellers, Dennis adores her work. 'I love the customer interaction, especially talking to kids about books,' she explains. 'The ongoing relationships we develop with regulars is lovely and it's always exciting to meet authors through our events.' Christmas is her highlight of the year, when she resorts back to basics by 'running around offering recommendations and selling books', she says. 'It's all so satisfying.' 'I work hard for the money I make' Tony Wolstenholme is soon to mark his 50th year as a beekeeper, which has included working as an educator and mentor to other beekeepers, developing his own hives and selling honey products. The former Naval weapon engineer now keeps hives at The Langley Hotel in Slough and manages apiaries by Virginia Water and at the country house of Fort Belvedere. With the physical toll, threat of climate change, and other wildlife interfering with the hives, none of it is easy money for Wolstenholme, but aged 85, the passion for apiculture keeps him hooked in. 'I work hard for what I make, but at the end of the day, I feel I'm contributing to our ecology, which is pleasing,' he says. Wolstenholme has always enjoyed the autonomy of his beekeeping – a key factor for ensuring job satisfaction, according to the Resolution Foundation – which he began in the 1970s, when a period of high inflation prompted more widespread interest in self-sufficiency, including the practices and benefits of apiculture. Reading any books he could, and sharing a hive and equipment with a neighbour, Wolstenholme found himself to be genuinely interested, and took a basic assessment course at a local agricultural college to get started. 'Membership to several local beekeeping societies led to a position as an education officer, building a syllabus for a beginners' course and teaching it on Saturdays,' he explains. 'I learned a lot, and soon enough, I was going around the world with what started as a bit of a whim.' He's attended three international Apimondia conferences in Ljubljana, Dublin and Kyiv and acted as the Russian interpreter for the head of Ukraine's Beekeeping Research Institute, as well as mentoring England team members for the International Meeting of Young Beekeepers. Now though, Wolstenholme remains busy tending to his hives. Combining his hourly earnings from Fort Belvedere and Virginia Water, and earnings from honey sales to The Langley, Wolstenholme earns around £3,000 a year, and is supported by his military pension. 'I used to keep [bees] in Windsor, by the Thames, but as the years have gone by and climate change has developed, the water has risen,' explains Wolstenholme. 'Not long ago, the Thames went up by a metre in just 24 hours and the hives were inundated.' He lost five colonies, and the equivalent of £1,500, prompting a move to areas of more protected, drier land. Loss is a normal part of beekeeping though. Deer roaming the grounds of The Langley knocked over one of his hives, causing a swarm of wasps to hoover up almost eight kilos of honey, plus pollen and wax. He's lost hives to hungry mice, the near ubiquitous parasite varroa, and of course, variations in climate. While the lows are low, the highs are euphoric. Wolstenholme likes being outdoors, and enjoys the beautiful surroundings in which he keeps his hives. For him, it's a very mindful practice and he enjoys watching the bees. 'I spot them arriving with pollen on their legs, which are all different colours or I see a bee doing a waggle dance, which tells other bees exactly where to go to find food,' he explains. 'Seeing a Queen has laid an egg in every single cell in the chamber frame, or bees filling it with honey, capping it all with wax, I always think: goodness me, what perfection.' The shift to a more fulfilling career Making the switch for greater work happiness is a path many British workers are considering. Research conducted as a result of a collaboration between Careershifters and Phoenix Insights, Phoenix Group's longevity think tank, found that nearly half (48pc) of 40- to 65-year-olds are open to changing their careers, with 67pc identifying greater fulfilment as a likely outcome of changing careers. However, financial concerns are a major barrier for this age group, with a quarter (26pc) citing worries about their living costs or personal finances. 'Career changers come to us because they want to find a more fulfilling career, and some take a pay cut to do that,' explains Natasha Stanley, head coach at Careershifters, an organisation that provides career-change courses and workshops. 'Social priorities seem to be shifting, with many coming to us because they're putting their health, relationships and sense of self over traditional conceptions of 'success' like status and a chunky pay packet.' Andrew Smith, from Shropshire, wishes he'd made his career switch earlier, but like many in his position, the change was prompted by a major life event. For 15 years, he and his business partner had been running a company that designed and manufactured components and products, utilising underused space in British factories. However, the credit crunch hit and much of their client base took the design and production of goods in-house. Although the pair were able to sell off most of the componentry and get out with enough funds to last a few years, Smith experienced what he calls 'the oldest story' in the book. 'The moment I stopped working, I became ill with cancer,' he explains. 'I had chemotherapy and a huge operation, so I found myself in my late 50s, incapable of working.' In 2011, Smith began volunteering at Kettle's Yard, a house gallery in Cambridge that he'd been visiting regularly since the 1980s. 'The place has such a calming atmosphere,' he says. 'Jim Ede, the curator and founder, had been through awful things in the First World War and when he was setting up Kettle's Yard 40 years later, wanted it to be a sanctuary for people who had been through trauma like him.' Two years into volunteering, Smith took on a paid role as an invigilator. 'A more appropriate title is 'host',' he explains. 'There are no information labels, so I offer information and anecdotes about the collection – if visitors express an interest, of course.' He also cares for the plants in the house, many of which derive from original cuttings from the 1950s. To him, the role is 'enormous fun,' and in particular, he loves researching and discussing the furniture. There are 62 chairs at Kettle's Yard, and probably five works of art to every chair, amounting to hundreds of details and stories, but somehow he manages to remember them all. 'I watch as new colleagues, many of whom are quite young, come to do this job and quickly become engulfed with interest,' says Smith. 'The more you look, the more it becomes endlessly fascinating.' He notes that it would be hard to live on a visitor host salary alone, and several of his colleagues work multiple jobs alongside. Smith manages as his pension was more generous than he thought, and aged 73, he plans to continue working at Kettle's Yard as long as he can. 'My path has followed my father's – he was a farm labourer and then in 1970, he was offered a job as a groundsman on a golf course,' explains Smith. 'I'd never seen him so happy.' The happiness that can come from a lower-paid job is something many stressed out workers dream of – but many simply don't think they can make it work. 'In just the last decade, Britons have lived through a recession, a pandemic, and rising costs of living,' says Stanley of Careershifters. 'They've seen how fast their financial situations can change, and taking a salary drop (very understandably) feels risky.' Her advice to anyone considering moving to a lower paid role or sector is: 'Always test your assumptions before allowing them to paralyse you – you'd be surprised what's possible.'
