Carl Emmerson presents on the public finance risks and the public spending in our #Budget2023 analysis event.
Watch live here:
The @OBR_UK are now among the most optimistic of forecasters on growth, and expect the economy to be 0.6% bigger in 2027 than under its previous forecast.
This would be stronger growth than under @bankofengland's forecast, but still poor compared to the long-run average.
Inflation may be coming down, but prices remain much higher than two years ago and earnings haven’t caught up.
@OBR_uk’s still projects that real household disposable incomes will be no higher in 2027 than they were in 2019.
Real disposable household income is still undergoing its largest fall on record, despite @OBR_UK being more optimistic than in November.
Real disposable household income is set to drop by 3.7% this financial year, and over the next year by a further 2%.
Tax continues to rise to its highest ever level, and to much higher levels than in recent decades.
Borrowing in the later forecast years was revised down by @OBR_UK, by £17 billion or 0.6% of national income.
However, this still leaves borrowing higher than in the forecast produced before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The medium-term trajectory for debt is extremely sensitive to what happens to growth.
Under the @OBR_UK's long-run growth assumption, debt would steadily fall. Under @bankofengland's assumption, it would effectively flatline.
Under one plausible scenario, 'unprotected' budgets like local government, further education, courts, prisons, HMRC could face £18bn of cuts over the three years after the next election.
Fuel duty rates have been frozen in cash terms once again, and the 'temporary' 5p cut has been maintained. This amounts to a cumulative £80bn tax cut relative to RPI uprating since 2010–11.
Continuing these freeze would reduce revenues in 2027–28 by £4 billion.
Despite a forecast return to current budget surplus, a "wafer-thin margin of error against a poorly designed debt target" could push @Jeremy_Hunt towards some unwelcome policy decisions.
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NEW: Reforms are needed to help people make good use of their pension wealth throughout their retirement and avoid exhausting their wealth too early.
New Pensions Review reports funded by @finan_fairness look at the rising numbers making complex, risky decisions in retirement:🧵
@finan_fairness People are increasingly saving for retirement in defined contribution (DC) pensions, which do not guarantee a regular income.
44% of those aged 55-64 had some DC pension wealth in 2006-07, rising to 59% in 2021-23. The average size of DC wealth at retirement is also growing.
@finan_fairness Median DC pension wealth at retirement (among those with some) is set to rise from £75k for those born in 1960-64 to £130k for those born in 1975-79.
Since 'pension freedoms' were introduced in 2015, over-55s have been able to access DC pensions any way they choose.
Established 25 years ago, Sure Start operated as a network of centres integrating services for families with young children under one roof, before being wound back since its peak in 2010.
Previous IFS work found it improved young people’s health and educational outcomes.
[2/9]
Access to a Sure Start centre during the early years reduced the probability of receiving a criminal conviction by 13%, and a custodial sentence in adolescence by 20%.
It did not have a major effect on less serious criminal outcomes: there was no effect on police cautions. [3/9]
NEW: Public sector pay has declined relative to the wider pay distribution, especially for higher earners.
@JCribbEcon @awmckendrick @m_dominguezp’s Green Budget chapter examines the pressures on public sector pay and the implications for recruitment & retention:
[THREAD: 1/11]
The new government has accepted in full the independent 2024 Pay Review Body recommendations, with average pay rises of 5.5%.
This is ahead of inflation, and close to private sector pay growth.
[2/11]
Pay in the public sector has evolved less favorably than in the private sector in recent years.
While private sector pay is 6% higher than it was in early 2019 in real terms, public sector pay is up by only 1%.
NEW: Health-related benefit claims have risen substantially across England and Wales, with increases in mental health claims across all ages.
There is little evidence of similar trends in other countries.
THREAD on our new report on health-related benefits:
[1/7]
There has been rapid growth in the health-related benefits caseload since 2019. 1 in 10 working-age people in England & Wales now claim a health-related benefit.
@OBR_UK projects further growth of 19% for incapacity benefits & 41% for disability benefits from 2023 to 2028. [2/7]
A higher caseload means higher spending. The UK now spends 1.7% of GDP on working-age health-related benefits.
This is up from 1.3% in 2019 but is still close to the OECD’s 2019 average of 1.6%. However, @OBR_UK forecasts that spending could rise to 2.1% of GDP by 2028.
NEW: Rising mortgage interest rates pushed 320,000 into poverty by December 2023, but only two-thirds of that will be captured by official statistics.
THREAD on Sam Ray-Chaudhuri, @TomWatersEcon & Tom Wernham’s @JRF_uk-funded living standards, poverty & inequality report:
[1/7]
Mortgage interest rates have risen rapidly since June 2022.
These increases have not impacted all mortgagors, but those whose fixed period ended recently have faced much higher interest rates, which can increase payments by thousands of pounds per year.
[2/7]
Higher mortgage interest rates have caused poverty among mortgagors to rise from 7.9% to 9.3%, equivalent to 320,000 more people.
Official statistics use average interest rates to calculate mortgage payments, and so will only capture two-thirds (230,000) of this rise.
- @PJTheEconomist: The "raw facts" on the public finances and funding for public services "are largely ignored by the two main parties in their manifestos."
"They have singularly failed even to acknowledge some of the most important issues and choices."
@PJTheEconomist Low growth, high debt and high interest payments means "to stop debt spiralling ever upwards we need to run primary surpluses."
"That means the government collecting more in tax and other revenues than it spends on everything apart from debt interest."