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Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Papers

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Conservative Governments' Record on Health from May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020: Policies, Spending and Outcomes

Polly Vizard, Polina Obolenskaya, Jarrod Hughes, Kritty Treebhoohun and Iona Wainwright

This research report examines developments in the progress that was made in promoting good physical and mental health and longevity, and reducing mortality and morbidity inequalities, over the five-year period between Ma...Read more...

28 April 2023

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Conservative Governments’ Record on Higher Education: Policy, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020

Abigail McKnight and Polina Obolenskaya

In this paper we evaluate the distributional impact of higher education policy in the period since the Conservative government took office in 2015 up until the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. We do this by fo...Read more...

27 April 2023

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
Trends in Adolescent Disadvantage: Policy and Outcomes for Young People under Labour, the Coalition, and the Conservatives (1997 to 2019)

Moira Wallace

Over the last two decades, England has seen two enormous waves of change in the government’s approach to children and young people. The first wave of change was conducted by the 1997-2010 Labour government and involved s...Read more...

10 August 2023

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
Going backwards? The slowdown, stalling and reversal of progress in reducing child poverty in Britain during the second decade of the 21st century, and the groups of children that were affected.

Polly Vizard, Polina Obolenskaya and Kritty Treebhoohun

This paper has been written as part of the Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes (SPDO) research programme and provides an in-depth assessment of the slowdown, stalling and reversal of progress in reducing child po...Read more...

13 March 2023

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
Public and private welfare activity in England, 1979 to 2019 (Revised version June 2024).

Mary Reader and Tania Burchardt

(REVISED VERSION, published in June 2024) This paper offers an empirical account of the changing landscape of private and public welfare activity in England over the forty years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. It forms a...Read more...

4 January 2023

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Conservative Governments’ Record on Employment: Policies, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020

Abigail McKnight and Kerris Cooper

In this paper we evaluate the distributional impact of employment policy in the period since the Conservative Government took office in 2015 up until the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. We do this by followin...Read more...

27 July 2022

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
Understanding recent patterns in intergenerational social mobility: differences by gender, ethnicity, education, and their intersections

Lindsey Macmillan and Abigail McKnight

This paper presents new estimates of recent social mobility in the UK by gender, education and ethnicity, and their intersections. We measure absolute social class mobility using data from the Labour Force Survey 2014-20...Read more...

26 May 2022

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Conservative Governments’ Record on Social Security: Policies, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020

Kerris Cooper and John Hills

This paper uses the Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes framework to evaluate how social security policies evolved, how public spending changed, the effects of these on the generosity of the system, and evidence ...Read more...

23 February 2021

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Ruling Parties’ Record on Homelessness and Complex Needs (May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020)

Suzanne Fitzpatrick and Glen Bramley

This paper provides a comparative analysis of homelessness policy goals, expenditure and outcomes across Great Britain in the post-2015 period, setting these developments in their longer-term perspective. In England, a r...Read more...

10 March 2021

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Conservative Governments' Record on Early Childhood from May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020: Policies, Spending and Outcomes

Kitty Stewart and Mary Reader

This paper uses the Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes framework to evaluate the record of successive Conservative administrations on early childhood during the period between 2015 and the eve of the COVID-19 pa...Read more...

1 February 2021

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Conservatives’ Record on Adult Social Care: spending, policies and outcomes in England, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020

Tania Burchardt, Polina Obolenskaya and Jarrod Hughes

This paper uses the Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes framework to evaluate developments in adult social care policies in England during the period between 2015 and the eve of COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020...Read more...

3 November 2020

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
The Conservatives' Record on Compulsory education: spending, policies and outcomes in England, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020

Ruth Lupton and Polina Obolenskaya

This paper reviews education policy in England for the period since the Conservative Government took office in 2015 to the eve of COVID-19 pandemic. We consider the effects of policies on the school system, teachers, cur...Read more...

22 October 2020

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
Physical safety and Security: Policies, spending and outcomes 2015-2020

Kerris Cooper and Nicola Lacey

This paper sets out to evaluate the development of policy in relation to physical safety and security in the period since the Conservative Government took office in 2015. Whilst people’s physical safety and security depe...Read more...

13 August 2019

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
Flat-lining or seething beneath the surface? Two decades of changing economic inequality in the UK

Polina Obolenskaya and John Hills

This paper analyses what happened to economic inequalities in the United Kingdom in the two decades from 1995-96. In aggregate, inequality changes were unremarkable, especially by comparison with sharp increases in the ...Read more...

2 July 2019

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
What does Brexit mean for social policy in the UK? An exploration of the potential consequences of the 2016 referendum for public services, inequalities and social rights

Kitty Stewart, Kerris Cooper and Isabel Shutes

The paper was written as part of a major research programme on trends in the distribution of social and economic outcomes in the UK and the design and impact of social policies. The paper seeks to map out the potential i...Read more...

26 February 2019

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
City-region devolution in England

Ruth Lupton, Ceri Hughes, Sian Peake-Jones and Kerris Cooper

This paper explores recent developments in the devolution of powers to subnational governments in England and its implications for social policy making and the distribution of economic and social outcomes. It is general...Read more...

21 November 2018

Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes Research Paper
Country level devolution: Scotland

Mark Stephens and Suzanne Fitzpatrick

The Scottish Parliament has been in existence for nearly two decades. Its powers have been extended to cover a number of taxes and areas of social security in recent years. This paper examines the use of these powers and...Read more...

21 November 2018