The government has set out new measures to cut benefits and boost employment for disabled people. But will its strategy work? Tom Pollard, Head of Social Policy at the New Economics Foundation and a seasoned commentator joins us to discuss what is proposed and gives his view on whether the measures will be effective.
Mubin speaks to Alison Garnham from Child Poverty Action Group about what can be done to reduce child poverty in the UK. They discuss how child poverty has been reduced in the past and how policy really can reduce child poverty. The Trust has funded the following reports on child poverty: Exploring the lived experiences of childcare for parents on Universal Credit Financial stress and maternity leave How to improve the system for people migrating from legacy benefits Flexible affordable childcar...
Episode 23: Inheritance Taxation Mubin speaks to Dan Goss from Demos and David Sturrock from the Institute for Fiscal Studies about their research on inheritance taxation. For more information on inheritance tax you can read the following reports funded by the Trust: Inheritance Tax reliefs: time for reform? Options to repair inheritance taxation in Britain Raising revenue from closing inheritance tax loopholes
Mubin and Carl drill down into what was announced in October’s budget. What does it mean for people's living standards, the British economy, and whether we will see an end to stagnation? The interview Mubin asks Carl Emmerson, Deputy Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, about the October 2024 Budget. On taxes, the Chancellor raised an extra 40 billion pounds a year. Did she go far enough or did she go too far? And how coherent was it as a tax plan? On fuel duty, it was quite a surprise ...
With both of the main political parties claiming your pension is not safe with the other, and that they will keep the triple lock, we drill down into what the parties are offering, whether it’s enough for the future and how they will deliver it. For this episode Mubin is joined by David Gauke. David is a British political commentator, solicitor and former politician who was the Member of Parliament for South West Hertfordshire from 2005 to 2019. David has served as Secretary of State for Work an...
As we approach the general election, the political parties will set out their stalls. What will their spending promises be? What might they cut? How will they pay for it all? We speak to Gemma Tetlow about how it all works. What is public spending? How much room is there for change? What are some of the big ticket areas of expenditure? Mubin asks questions about what is driving changes in public spending: To what extent are changes in spending being driven by demographics – for example our aging...
Guests • Torsten Bell, Resolution Foundation • Clare Moriarty, Citizens Advice We discuss how the squeeze on living standards might influence the general election. Guests consider where people are feeling the squeeze, how that has changed over time, and how likely it is to influence the way they vote in the upcoming general election. Mubin asks Claire and Torsten what can be done to improve living standards and they talk about how we could all aim to be a bit more Dutch. Questions include: And w...
What is the state of employment in the UK? How many people are unemployed? Has this gone up or down since the pandemic and is enough being done to get people back into work? Guests • Nita Clarke, Involvement and Participation Association • Tony Wilson, Institute for Employment Studies In this podcast we speak to Nita and Tony about the labour market in the UK. What the post-pandemic labour market recovery has looked like, how the UK is faring compared to other OECD countries and what needs to be...
Guests: • Arun Advani, University of Warwick • Ian Mulheirn, Resolution Foundation What do we mean by wealth? It’s savings and housing but also investments such as shares and crypto-currencies. In this episode, we explore what’s been happening to wealth over the past few decades and how it might affect the next election. Including: Why does the wealth gap and wealth inequalities matter? How important will the issue of wealth be at the next general election? Does wealth taxation come up as an iss...
Summary Guest: Kate Bell, Assistant General Secretary at the Trades Union Congress. For many years wages have stagnated, at a time of low inflation people did not feel the hit, but now with prices on all the essentials from pasta to petrol going through the roof workers are feeling the hit. The episode examines the pay gap, and how it has changed over the years, low pay and what can be done to address it. How do we make pay fair? Mubin speaks to Kate Bell about pay. What is a fair wage? How has ...
In this episode we speak to Russell Gunson, Head of Policy and Research at the Robertson Trust, about the Minimum Income Guarantee for Scotland. The Minimum Income Guarantee may not be a concept many of us are familiar with, it's fairly new and is aiming to improve living standards across the board. Russell answers questions such as: What is a Minimum Income Guarantee? How will incomes actually be boosted? What is the combination of activities that are underpinning the Minimum Income Guarantee? ...
How to solve the childcare crisis The government recently announced future changes to childcare which should make it easier for parents to work. We will discuss what those changes are, how they will work and if they go far enough, with Abby Jitendra, from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Bel Guillaume, from Onward. We ask the following questions: Why does childcare cost so much? Why are childcare workers not paid very well? What government support is available for childcare costs? Why is quali...
In this episode we are joined by award-winning money journalist Paul Lewis. He talks to Mubin about his latest book, Money Box. Bearing the same name as the popular Radio 4 programme, which Paul has presented for over two decades, Money Box takes readers through each financial stage of their life. From choosing credit cards and buying your first home, to marriage and will-writing, Money Box has it all covered. Paul discusses people’s experiences of fraud (not-so-fun fact: you are more likely to ...
Mubin talks to Danny about Levelling Up. What is Levelling Up? Why is Britain so unequal? Is Levelling Up working? Danny gives his verdict on all these questions and more. Summary of the discussion We have huge geographical inequalities across the UK, and that impacts all of us, from our health, living standards, jobs, transport, housing and much more. Levelling Up is the Government’s attempt to try and reduce these gaps, but will it work and why are these inequalities so wide in the UK. Mubin s...
Guests: Felicia Odamtten, Resolution Foundation, and Steve Webb, former Minister for Pensions. November 2022 Mubin talks to Felicia and Steve about pensions. How do we make sure we save enough for our pensions? Who has responsibility for making sure people are saving enough, is it government, employers or individuals? Everything you ever wanted to know about pensions is discussed in this episode, from what the triple lock actually is, to the difference between defined contribution and defined be...
How do we eradicate the need for food banks? We are joined by Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust to discuss food banks. How do food banks work? What’s driving the increased need for food banks? How can we reduce the need for food banks?
This episode was recorded on Wednesday 27th September Why are tax cuts going to the highest earners? What does the falling pound mean? How high are interest rates going to go? How are we going to pay for the mini-budget? What does this mean for the cost of living? In the week when the pound has plunged in value against the dollar, the interest rate the government had to pay on its debt went up, and the Bank of England had to intervene to deal with turmoil on the financial markets, we speak to Al...
A short introduction to the Financial Fairness podcast
This short bonus episode discusses the findings of the Financial Fairness Impact Tracker, a regular survey of household finances. The latest edition of the tracker found that across the UK one-in-six of all households (4.4 million) are now in ‘serious financial difficulties’, compared to one-in-ten (2.8 million) in October 2021 – an additional 1.6 million households. Mubin speaks to Sharon Collard and Jamie Evans from the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol, who carry o...
Inflation has sky rocketed, almost daily, headlines outline the difficulties people are encountering in the face of increasing prices. How have we ended up in this situation? Miatta Fahnbulleh, Chief Executive of the New Economics Foundation, joins Mubin to discuss how inflation got so high.
The UK is facing the most serious cost of living crisis in a generation, but it's those on the lowest incomes who are being hit hardest. In this episode we look beyond the headlines with Helen Barnard, Director of Research and Policy at Pro Bono Economics and Associate Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Helen is an expert on poverty, inequality and social policy. Her extensive body of written work and regular media contributions have covered poverty, destitution, labour markets, housing...
In the UK we have a difficult relationship with gambling. A ‘little flutter on the horses’ or a weekly lotto ticket is a fiercely protected part of our culture. However, policy has not kept up with changes in the gambling industry, particularly the move to online gambling. How do we protect people better from gambling harm? We speak to Rob Davies, journalist and author of 'Jackpot: How Gambling Conquered Britain' and Matt Zarb-Cousin, campaigner and director of Clean Up Gambling. Mubin talks to ...
How did we end up with the tax system we have, and how can we make it better? In this episode, we are joined by Paul Johnson from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, one of the UK's leading economists, as we take a look back through the history of taxation. Mubin and Paul discuss everything from Jaffa Cakes to hair powder, as they try to unpick how we’ve ended up with the tax system we have today.
Who is wealthy in today’s Britain? Is wealth fairly distributed? Is wealth fairly taxed? These are some of the questions we are asking in this episode. Whilst those on lower incomes have found it harder and harder to accumulate savings or assets, people who already have assets such as housing are becoming wealthier. For this episode, we are joined by Torsten Bell from the Resolution Foundation. You may have heard Torsten on the Today Programme, or just about any other news programme, commenting ...
How did we end up with the social security system we have? How can we make out social security system better? We speak to Alison Garnham, CEO of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) about social security. Alison has spent many years working as a welfare rights adviser, been a senior lecturer in social policy at the University of North London and has headed up CPAG since 2010 making her ideally placed to take the long view on all things social security.
We speak to Alistair Darling, chair of Financial Fairness and former Chancellor, about the financial response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Discussing the findings of a review of over 200 research reports into the government’s financial handling of the pandemic, Alistair also draws on his own experience and gives his verdict on how well the government handled the financial side of the pandemic.
