Institute for Fiscal Studies

📊 #IFSSatStat: Official figures overstated the wealth gap between young and old, with under-40s holding 18% of total wealth in 2020–22, not the 11% suggested by official statistics.    Read our new report on wealth distribution here: ifs.org.uk/publications/h…

As @theIFS wrapped up initial responses to Welsh manifestos, I joined @felicityxevans for @WalesPolitics Walescast podcast to talk about Plaid Cymru's & the Green Party's manifestos. 💷Some big pledges on childcare - but where's the money coming from? bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0n…

NEW: "Taken together, Plaid Cymru's plans would amount to a notable increase in spending...Unfortunately, they provide little information on how they would pay for these increases." 📗 Read our response to Plaid Cymru's manifesto: ifs.org.uk/articles/initi…

🚨Our @theIFS response to Plaid Cymru's manifesto is OUT! Big expansion of childcare & more support for low income families. But despite this being "fully costed", no real info on how to pay for this. In reality it needs tax rises or cuts elsewhere. ifs.org.uk/articles/initi…

Sign up for our brand new IFS-cemmap training course on 'Difference-in-differences in depth: A field guide to modern methods' with Jonathan Shaw. 📅 8-10 June 2026 | In-person | @EconUCL For more information and book here: ifs.org.uk/events/differe…

How is wealth distributed in the UK and how has this changed? Currently, official statistics don't give a good answer: they calculate pension wealth in a way that's inconsistent over time and with how other assets are valued. New @TheIFS report with @IsaacDelestre fixes this:🧵

@IsaacDelestre @LaurenceOBrien_ Read our full report developing a new methodology for measuring pension wealth here: ifs.org.uk/publications/h…

@IsaacDelestre @LaurenceOBrien_ Currently, official statistics calculate pension wealth in a way that is inconsistent both over time and with how other assets are valued. Fixing this reveals that the ONS particularly undervalued pension wealth for younger people during periods of low market interest rates.

NEW: The gap in wealth between old and young over the 2010s has been overstated by official statistics. @IsaacDelestre and @LaurenceOBrien_’s new report shows how wealth is distributed in the UK using a new and consistent methodology for calculating pension wealth:

NEW PODCAST: What does this election mean for Scotland’s future? @HelenMiller_IFS, @MairiSpowage and @fiscalphillips unpack the big economic and fiscal questions hanging over the Scottish Parliament election. 🎧 Listen here: ifs.org.uk/articles/what-…

NEW: “The Scottish Conservatives' key tax and spending proposals, including income tax and business rate cuts plus over £2 billion in additional spending, would cost around £6 billion a year by 2031–32.” 📗 Read our response to the manifesto: ifs.org.uk/articles/initi…

Interested in public policy and digital media? Looking to kickstart a career in communications? 📊 We're hiring for a Communications Assistant to join us for a 12-month internship – find out more and apply here by 11:59pm Sunday 10 May: app.beapplied.com/apply/gfk29gcb…

🚨Our @theIFS response to Scottish Conservative manifesto is out. 🧮Welcome transparency in a clear policy costings document. 📊£6bn of 'giveaways' and £2bn of benefit cuts. ⚙️But £4bn of other spending cuts cannot be just 'efficiencies' - cuts this size would impact services.

NEW: “The Green Party’s Welsh manifesto offers vision of a bigger state doing more for its citizens. But it lacks any plan for how to pay for that bigger state.” 📗 Read our response to the Green Party’s Welsh manifesto here: ifs.org.uk/articles/initi…

📗 Read @KateOgdenEcon’s immediate response to the announcement here: ifs.org.uk/articles/immed…

NEW: The new cap on student loan interest rates will not make any immediate difference to graduates’ monthly repayments. It will reduce lifetime repayments for the roughly third of Plan 2 borrowers who will fully repay their loans – and only if they are high-earning in 2026/27.

Read my and colleagues' @theIFS Green Party Welsh manifesto initial response ⬇️ As an opening gambit for potential coalition negotiations, it may do the job. But with big seemingly unfunded spending increases, this is not a costed plan for government.

🚨Press logistical note. Given its scale and afternoon launch, our @theIFS response to the Scottish Cons. manifesto will now be published TOMORROW (Wednesday). Headline: BIG tax cuts and spending increases, to be funded by BIG but less certain spending cuts. More to follow...

Are pensioners are now better off than working-age people? @JCribbEcon describes how pensioners' incomes have changed over time in our recent podcast. 🎧️ Listen here: ifs.org.uk/articles/are-p…

'About 45% for the average pensioner comes from the state pension.' In our podcast on pensions, we analyse the composition of pensioner incomes and implications for the future of pensions. 🎧️ Listen here: ifs.org.uk/articles/are-p…