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| Formation | 2005 |
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| Type | Think tank |
| Purpose | Improve outcomes for people on low and modest incomes. |
| Headquarters | London |
Official language | English |
Chief Executive | Ruth Curtice |
Revenue | £1,871,125 (2019) [1] |
| Expenses | £1,756,236 (2019) [1] |
| Website | resolutionfoundation |
The Resolution Foundation is an independent [2] British think tank established in 2005. Its stated aim is to improve the standard of living of low-to-middle income families. [3] [4]
From 2005 to 2010, Sue Regan served as the chief executive of the organisation. She was succeeded by Gavin Kelly, who led the organisation from 2010 to 2015. Following his tenure, Kelly became the CEO of the Resolution Trust, the think tank's primary funder. [3]
In June 2015, the former Conservative MP David Willetts took over as executive chairman. [5] [6] At the same time, Torsten Bell, a former senior advisor to Ed Miliband, was appointed as the organisation's director to lead what the Foundation described as "an expanded programme of work". [3] [7] By November 2019, Willetts had become president of the Foundation's Advisory Council and Intergenerational Centre, while Bell had advanced to the role of chief executive.
In May 2024, Bell departed from the organisation after being selected as Labour's candidate for Swansea West. Mike Brewer took over as interim chief executive. [8] In November 2024, the Resolution Foundation announced the appointment of Ruth Curtice as its new chief executive. [9]
The Foundation has hosted a number of major reviews, and the commission on Living Standards, chaired by Clive Cowdery, ran from 2011 to 2012. [10] The 'Resolution Foundation Review of the Future of the National Minimum Wage' in 2013 and 2014 was chaired by Sir George Bain, and set out proposals to strengthen the minimum wage. [11] This report was referenced by Chancellor George Osborne when the National Living Wage was announced in 2015. [12] The 'Intergenerational Commission' ran from 2016 to 2018, chaired by David Willetts. [13] This was succeeded by the 'Intergenerational Centre', which was established "as a home for analysis and policy thinking on living standards through a generational lens". [14]
In 2018, a Macroeconomic Policy Unit was established "with the aim of contributing to a more inclusive and better informed macroeconomic policy debate". [15] The Resolution Foundation produces some recurring research publications. These include annual 'Low Pay Britain' reports, an annual 'Living Standards Audit', an annual 'Living Standards Outlook', and a quarterly 'Earnings Outlook'. The Foundation also calculates the rates of the voluntary UK and London Living Wages each year, on behalf of the Living Wage Foundation and using the Minimum Income Standard. [16]
In March 2023, the Foundation shared research exclusively with BBC Panorama, which claimed that stalling wage growth since the 2008 financial crisis has left British workers £11,000 worse off a year. [17] The Foundation released a report in April 2023, titled 'Low Pay Britain 2023: Improving low-paid work through higher minimum standards', stating that "good work" is needed to combat economic decline in Britain. [18]
In the year ending 30 September 2022, its annual income was £3,285,540.00. The bulk of its funding comes from the Resolution Trust established by Clive Cowdery in addition to the Federation of Small Businesses, the Nuffield Foundation, the Rowntree Trusts and others. [19] It has been awarded an A rating for transparency by the Who Funds You? project and is quoted more often by political parties that are left of centre. [20]
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes national, regional, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output/GDP and national income, unemployment, price indices and inflation, consumption, saving, investment, energy, international trade, and international finance.
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Because minimum wages increase the cost of labor, companies often try to avoid minimum wage laws by using gig workers, by moving labor to locations with lower or nonexistent minimum wages, or by automating job functions. Minimum wage policies can vary significantly between countries or even within a country, with different regions, sectors, or age groups having their own minimum wage rates. These variations are often influenced by factors such as the cost of living, regional economic conditions, and industry-specific factors.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 by Lord Hollick and Lord Eatwell, and is an independent registered charity. The think tank aims to maintain the momentum of progressive thought in the United Kingdom through well-researched and clearly argued policy analysis, reports, and publications; as well as a high media profile.
David Linsay Willetts, Baron Willetts, is a British politician and life peer. From 1992 to 2015, he was the Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire. He served as Minister of State for Universities and Science from 2010 until July 2014 and became a member of the House of Lords in 2015. He was appointed chair of the UK Space Agency's board in April 2022. He is president of the Resolution Foundation.
A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum, or a solidarity wage, which refers to a minimum wage tracking labor productivity. Needs are defined to include food, housing, and other essential needs such as clothing. The goal of a living wage is to allow a worker to afford a basic but decent standard of living through employment without government subsidies. Due to the flexible nature of the term "needs", there is not one universally accepted measure of what a living wage is and as such it varies by location and household type. A related concept is that of a family wage – one sufficient to not only support oneself, but also to raise a family.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom. From 1 April 2024, the minimum wage is £11.44 for people aged 21 and over, £8.60 for 18- to 20-year-olds, and £6.40 for 16- to 17-year-olds and apprentices.
Poverty in the United Kingdom is the condition experienced by the portion of the population of the United Kingdom that lacks adequate financial resources for a certain standard of living, as defined under the various measures of poverty.
Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations (FRFG), also known as Stiftung für die Rechte zukünftiger Generationen (SRzG), is a German think tank and activist group focused on intergenerational justice and sustainability. Established in 1997, the foundation is based in Stuttgart, Germany. The FRFG has been called the most important extra-parliamentary think tank on the topic of intergenerational justice in Germany, and has members from around the world. The organization rose to national prominence while campaigning to include a provision for sustainability and the protection of future generations into the German constitution. It has also campaigned for age-independent voting rights. FRFG publishes the English-language journal Intergenerational Justice Review in collaboration with the University of Tübingen and the Intergenerational Foundation.
Sir Clive Cowdery is an English businessman and philanthropist who made a personal fortune in the insurance industry, founding two FTSE100 insurers and a third insurer which has deployed circa $5bn in capital with $90bn in assets, and has since donated large amounts to charity, including the Resolution Foundation which he founded in 2005.
The Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP) is an American economic research organization that conducts research and analysis of budget, tax, and economics issues to support policies that improve opportunities for all Oregonians. It supplies lawmakers with information "on issues affecting low- and moderate-income Oregonians".
The Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) is a self-funding research centre based within the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands, England.
In sociology and economics, the precariat is a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare. The term is a portmanteau merging precarious with proletariat.
Wage theft is the failing to pay wages or provide employee benefits owed to an employee by contract or law. It can be conducted by employers in various ways, among them failing to pay overtime; violating minimum-wage laws; the misclassification of employees as independent contractors; illegal deductions in pay; forcing employees to work "off the clock"; not paying annual leave or holiday entitlements; or simply not paying an employee at all.
Pre-distribution is the idea that the state should try to prevent inequalities occurring in the first place rather than ameliorating them via tax and benefits once they have occurred, as occurs under redistribution.
Bright Blue is an independent centre-right think tank and pressure group with a mission statement of defending and improving liberal society, based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2014 by British thinker Ryan Shorthouse, Bright Blue aims to "defend and champion liberal, open, democratic and meritocratic values, institutions and policies." Bright Blue is a membership-based think tank, with membership open to anyone who identifies as a liberal conservative. It publishes political research, recommends and vets public policy, and hosts political events.
The National Living Wage is an obligatory minimum wage payable to workers in the United Kingdom aged 21 and over which came into effect on 1 April 2016. As of April 2024 it is £11.44 per hour. It was implemented at a significantly higher rate than the national minimum wage rate for workers under 25, and was expected to rise to at least £9 per hour by 2020. The consultation document issued by the Low Pay Commission in 2019 indicated that this target would not be met, instead proposing a figure of £8.67 per hour for the over 23 rate. The target figure of £9 per hour was not reached until 2022.
Who Funds You? is a project that rates and promotes the transparency of funding sources for think tanks. The project scored think tanks according to four criteria, namely whether the organisation discloses its income, whether it publishes financial details online, whether individual donors and the amounts of each donation are published, and whether corporate donors are named and the amounts of each donation published. The project's first report into think tank transparency was published in June 2012. According to Martin Bright of The Spectator, the "exercise seems to demonstrate that left-leaning think tanks are more transparent than right-wing ones".
The Living Wage Foundation is a campaigning organisation in the United Kingdom which aims to persuade employers to pay a living wage. The organisation was established in 2011; it publishes an annual Living Wage figure and for a fee accredits employers who pay at the rate of the "living wage".
The Minimum Income Standard (MIS) is a research method developed in the UK, and now applied in other countries, to identify what incomes different types of households require to reach a socially acceptable living standard. The term has also been used to describe political criteria used openly or implicitly by some governments to assess the adequacy of income levels. MIS is the basis for the calculation of the UK living wage.
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