Publications
Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes
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The Conservative Governments' Record on Health from May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020: Policies, Spending and Outcomes
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
Polly Vizard, Polina Obolenskaya, Jarrod Hughes, Kritty Treebhoohun and Iona Wainwright
28 April 2023
The Conservative Governments? Record on Higher Education: Policy, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020
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
Abigail McKnight and Polina Obolenskaya
27 April 2023
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.
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
Polly Vizard, Polina Obolenskaya and Kritty Treebhoohun
13 March 2023
Public and private welfare activity in England, 1979 to 2019 (Revised version June 2024).
(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
Mary Reader and Tania Burchardt
4 January 2023
Who is at risk of experiencing violence and has it changed overtime?
Published crime statistics show that following a long-term decline in violent crime there has been a flattening out in recent years and certain types of violent crime have increased. This research note examines who is mo...Read more
Kerris Cooper and Polina Obolenskaya
15 September 2022
Layers of engagement: learning from the Social Policies and Distributional Outcomes research programme public engagement exercise
The purpose of this note is to share with the research community the lessons we feel we have learned from a public engagement exercise that we undertook, in collaboration with Sense about Science, as part of the Social P...Read more
Tania Burchardt, Bert Provan and Kerris Cooper
24 August 2022
The Conservative Governments? Record on Employment: Policies, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020
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
Abigail McKnight and Kerris Cooper
27 July 2022
Understanding recent patterns in intergenerational social mobility: differences by gender, ethnicity, education, and their intersections
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
Lindsey Macmillan and Abigail McKnight
26 May 2022
Social care inequalities in England: evidence briefing
Adult social care in England is once again high on the political agenda. The government has announced the introduction of a lifetime cap on eligible care costs and a slightly less harsh means-test for publicly-funded car...Read more
Nic Brimblecombe and Tania Burchardt
8 September 2021
The Ruling Parties? Record on Homelessness and Complex Needs (May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020)
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
Suzanne Fitzpatrick and Glen Bramley
10 March 2021
The Conservative Governments? Record on Social Security: Policies, Spending and Outcomes, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020
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
Kerris Cooper and John Hills
23 February 2021
The Conservative Governments' Record on Early Childhood from May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020: Policies, Spending and Outcomes
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
Kitty Stewart and Mary Reader
1 February 2021
The Conservatives? Record on Adult Social Care: spending, policies and outcomes in England, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020
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
Tania Burchardt, Polina Obolenskaya and Jarrod Hughes
3 November 2020
The Conservatives' Record on Compulsory education: spending, policies and outcomes in England, May 2015 to pre-COVID 2020
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
Ruth Lupton and Polina Obolenskaya
22 October 2020
The post war welfare state: stages and disputes
It has been suggested that the COVID epidemic, and its profound economic and social consequences, may produce major changes in the dominant ideas that help set the boundaries to social action. This note reflects on sig...Read more
Howard Glennerster
12 August 2020
Does COVID-19 represent a 'new Beveridge' moment, a crisis that will wash away, or a call to action?
Report of a roundtable discussion on theories of welfare...Read more
Tania Burchardt
29 July 2020
Physical safety and Security: Policies, spending and outcomes 2015-2020
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
Kerris Cooper and Nicola Lacey
13 August 2019
Flat-lining or seething beneath the surface? Two decades of changing economic inequality in the UK
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
Polina Obolenskaya and John Hills
2 July 2019
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
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
Kitty Stewart, Kerris Cooper and Isabel Shutes
26 February 2019
City-region devolution in England
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
Ruth Lupton, Ceri Hughes, Sian Peake-Jones and Kerris Cooper
21 November 2018
Country level devolution: Scotland
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
Mark Stephens and Suzanne Fitzpatrick
21 November 2018