Ahead of Wednesday’s spring statement, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) have launched a dynamic tax model estimating the impact of the planned national insurance contributions (NIC) rise on growth, wages, and investment. The model compared a ten-year baseline scenario to an altered scenario with a 1.25 percentage point change in three... Read more...
Summary: Under proposed extended producer responsibility changes, the annual packaging waste management costs that producers will have to pay will be approximately £2.7 billion. It seems likely that impacted producers will have to increase prices for consumers, thereby increasing the cost of a weekly shop. If all affected producers across... Read more...
Introduction Currently, 40 per cent of doctors on the GMC register hold primary medical degrees from foreign universities.[1] Overseas recruitment campaigns are a short term tool for filling rota gaps. In 2019, NHS Improvement set a target of recruiting 5,000 foreign nurses every year until 2024.[2] The 2019 Conservative party... Read more...
Introduction The cost of living has become a major concern for taxpayers, with 56 per cent of the least well off voters naming it as their top issue in polling carried out by the TaxPayers’ Alliance.[1] This has only hastened with recent increases in inflation, which rose to 4.2 per... Read more...
Overview: The total spend of members of parliament was £132.5 million in the 2020-21 financial year according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA). This was a 4.6 per cent increase on the £126.7 million spent in 2019-20. Britain’s most expensive MP was the member for Broxtowe, Darren Henry, with... Read more...
Background: Energy has become particularly costly in 2022 for a variety of reasons. A cold European winter in 2021 used up stored gas supplies.[1] Increased demand for energy in Asia means that gas is scarcer in the UK. These dramatically changing conditions have made it difficult for smaller suppliers to... Read more...
Christmas dinner is the family event of the year for many, regardless of the increasing interference from nannying public health officials. Strict guidelines endorsed by the NHS and other public health bodies set a daily limit of six grams of salt,[1] 30 grams of sugar[2] and 25 grams of saturated... Read more...
Introduction With rising inflation and the tax burden scheduled to reach a 73 year high, many households in the UK are struggling with the cost of living. Unfortunately, the joys of the festive season also bring additional pressures on household finances. Research from PwC shows that the average UK consumer intends... Read more...
Introduction In March 2020, the government committed to moving 22,000 civil servants out of London by 2030. One of the benefits of moving civil servants out of London are that expenditures can be reduced by renting cheaper office space and fewer civil servants will receive the London weighting allowance. This... Read more...
Overview: Members of the University and College Union (UCU) have approved strike action in response to the latest dispute over the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). Since 2018, UCU members have engaged in at least 36 strike days. The total cost of the teaching time lost in strikes since 2018 is... Read more...
Next year, the share of GDP extracted in tax – the ‘tax burden’ – will reach its highest level in 53 years at 35.0 per cent of GDP. The previous high was a one-year spike in 1969-70. Smoothing out volatility with five-year averages shows the tax burden next year at... Read more...
Executive summary Since their inceptions, the BBC and Channel 4 have had their futures guaranteed because of taxpayer ownership. The security afforded to them by this and their funding structures has allowed them to compete in the broadcasting market on an unfair basis. This paper assesses the options available for... Read more...
Overview Local authorities’ budgets have changed substantially over the last ten years. Central government funding reductions have coincided with councils, since April 2013, retaining 50 per cent of business rates generated locally.[1][2] Councils have also sought other sources of income, such as investments in commercial property and energy companies. At... Read more...
Introduction In March 2020, the chancellor announced a record increase in public investment for research and development (R&D) funding. This commitment will see taxpayer funding for R&D reach £22 billion per year by 2024-25, with an aim of public and private R&D spending equivalent to 2.4 per cent of GDP... Read more...
Please note: The paper originally cited a news source claiming that Tim Roache was to be paid a lump sum of £500,000. The GMB has since contacted us to confirm that this is untrue. We have amended the relevant footnote on the paper accordingly and we apologise to the GMB.... Read more...
Background: HM Government is planning to raise national insurance contributions (NICs) from April 2022 by 1.25 percentage points for employee, employer and self-employed national insurance. The purpose is two-fold: to meet demand for NHS backlogs (created because of covid-19) and for the provision of social care. In 2021-22, NICs are... Read more...
Introduction Many charities and third sector organisations are reliant on public bodies for at least a portion of their revenue. Receiving taxpayers' money puts these organisations in a privileged position. Stonewall – the LGBTQ+ charity – is one such group. However, it has also received significant scrutiny in recent months,... Read more...
Overview: At £0.53 per pint, the UK has the highest beer duty of any EU member country which England has played in Euro 2020. This is greater than Sweden’s; more than double Italy’s; more than triple Denmark’s; more than quadruple Croatia’s; and six times more than the Czech Republic’s. It... Read more...
Overview: The coronavirus job retention scheme (CJRS) has been available since 1 March 2020 and is due to finish at the end of September 2021. The objective of the CJRS is to allow employers to retain and pay staff by furloughing them at 80 per cent of their usual wages.... Read more...
Introduction Council tax is paid by the occupiers of residential property to a local authority. It was introduced in 1993 to replace the community charge – or ‘poll tax’, which in turn replaced domestic rates – and has proven to be very unpopular. Domestic rates have not been replaced in... Read more...
Overview: Between 2015-16 and 2018-19, Stonewall received at least £2,616,102 in grants from government bodies. The year 2018-19 saw the largest amount, with the organisation receiving £748,295. These figures are an underestimate of the actual total. This is because a significant proportion of Stonewall’s income is from fees (such as... Read more...
Introduction From the outset of the covid-19 pandemic, the government has supported employed people through the job retention scheme. This furlough scheme effectively covered the salaries of employees, on the strict condition that they were not able to work while receiving it. Organisations which receive taxpayers’ money for their staffing... Read more...
Introduction The UK became the first major economy to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. Combined with the United Nations climate change conference to be held in Glasgow this November, this suggests a clear desire by HM Government to reduce emissions, including through air travel.... Read more...
Overview: In England, there has been a charge of 5p for a single use carrier bag (SUCB) since October 2015. This applies only to large retailers with more than 250 employees. From 21 May 2021, this charge will be increased to 10p and apply to all retailers in England. The... Read more...