Spring Budget 2024: Taxation and Gender
Analysis, UK Budget Assessments, UK Policy Briefings
A pre-budget briefing from the Women’s Budget Group
Updated analysis: Early Years Education and Childcare funding shortfall
In March 2023, the Chancellor announced the expansion of funded childcare for children aged 9 months to 2 years from working families, with an investment of £4.2bn in 2025/26, once the roll-out of the policy is fully in place. With the information available at that...
Analysis
TOPICS
Autumn Budget 2021: Violence against women and girls
Oct 21, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
“More than one in four women will experience domestic abuse during their lifetime, and 20% of women have suffered sexual assault.” Read and download the full briefing here Violence against women and girls (VAWG) includes physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, and...
Autumn Budget 2021: Health inequalities and Covid-19
Oct 21, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
“The pandemic hit after a decade that saw the longest spending squeeze in the history of the NHS. This briefing looks at long standing issues of structuring, funding and health inequalities, and how Covid exacerbated these problems.” View and download the full...
Autumn Budget 2021: Pensions and gender
Oct 21, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
“The need for women to accumulate their own independent pensions is urgent. In this briefing we assess how changes in pension policy might reduce or exacerbate the gender gap in pensions.” Read and download the full briefing here Currently, female pensioners receive...
Autumn Budget 2021: Housing
Oct 21, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
“Private rental is unaffordable on women’s median earnings in every region in England, whereas men can afford every region except London. Women who rent privately spend on average 43% of their median earnings on rent, as opposed to 28% for men.” Read and download the...
Autumn Budget 2021: Social security and gender
Oct 21, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
“Social security has a vital role in securing economic independence for all women. Economic dependence makes women more vulnerable to domestic and sexual abuse and violence. This briefing explains how recent social security changes have disproportionately...
Comprehensive Spending Review 2021: A Joint Representation from the UK Women’s Budget Group
Oct 19, 2021 | Analysis, UK Budget Assessments
Read our CSR representation here. This a joint response from the UK Women’s Budget Group, Maternity Action and the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW). We welcome HM Treasury’s commitment to hearing the views of civil society ahead of the Comprehensive...
Revitalising Local Communities
Oct 7, 2021 | FGND Blog, UK Policy Briefings
UK Feminist Green New Deal Policy Papers Read the full policy paper here. This paper proposes placing the meeting of needs at the centre of all economic, social and political activity in order to revitalise communities in a way that enables a low-carbon, gender equal...
Calculating the cost of a high quality, free universal childcare system
Sep 22, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
Our childcare system is in crisis. Even prior to the pandemic it was not fit for purpose and was failing to meet the needs of children, parents, and the economy. Covid and the Government’s response has exacerbated these problems. A system of high quality, free,...
Government’s announced plan will not “fix social care once and for all” – we need a free universal social care system
Sep 21, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
READ THE FULL BRIEFING HERE In 2019 the Prime Minister pledged to “fix social care once and for all” during his tenure. Two years and a pandemic later, the Government has announced plans which fall short of what is needed to support people who need care, workers in...
Mega survey of UK parents shows that childcare is failing families
Sep 15, 2021 | Reports
A survey of over 20,000 parents in the UK, run by Mumsnet in partnership with a coalition of parenting and campaigning groups including Women's Budget Group, offers stark and sobering insights into the catastrophic impacts of childcare costs on the lives of parents -...
Post-pandemic aspirations: Young people call on the government to invest to secure a better future
Aug 26, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
With a number of Covid support measures, including the furlough scheme and £20 per week Universal Credit uplift, coming to an end in the Autumn, new research from six women’s organisations: Close the Gap, Engender, Fawcett Society, Northern Ireland Women’s Budget...
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on young women on low incomes
Aug 23, 2021 | Reports
Read the latest briefing by six women’s organisations: Close the Gap, Engender, Fawcett Society, Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group, Women’s Budget Group, and Women’s Equality Network Wales. This briefing explores the impact of the pandemic, and what life is...
Rethinking Housing Supply and Design
Aug 11, 2021 | Analysis, Blog, Reports, UK Policy Briefings
UK Feminist Green New Deal Policy Papers Read the full policy paper here. Housing is fundamental to life, security and wellbeing as well as tackling climate change and working towards a zero-carbon future. It also remains a key site of gender and intersectional...
How has the risk of precarious work in the UK evolved since Covid-19?
Jul 28, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
This research aims to understand how Covid-19 has impacted, if at all, on the precarisation of work in the UK. Covid-19 has proven to be not solely a health crisis. Measures adopted by businesses and governments, such as flexible working and the job retention scheme,...
WBG quick response to Government Plans on Funding for Social Care
Jul 21, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
The crisis in social care is urgent, there are currently 1.5 million people with unmet care needs in the UK. Addressing this requires immediate action, whatever the longer-term settlement. Care should be recognised as a form of social infrastructure, for which the...
‘Freedom Day’ – what are the implications of lifting lockdown restrictions in England?
Jul 21, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
Prime Minister Johnson set out his plans to move England into step four of his unlocking roadmap. July 19th will mark the first day of this plan, now being called ‘Freedom Day’. The work and pensions minister, Thérèse Coffey, also confirmed that the universal credit...
Building Back Fairer For Women & Girls
Jul 19, 2021 | Reports
The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed how deep-rooted gender inequality is within our society. The pandemic has entrenched and expanded pre-pandemic inequalities. Our research shows that the uneven impact of school closures, shutdown industries, furlough, and flexible...
Access to Childcare in Great Britain
Jul 5, 2021 | Analysis, Reports
Childcare is the single most important driver of the gender pay and labour market participation gap. The current childcare system in the UK is expensive and formal provision is patchy. Research by the Local Data Project run by Women’s Budget Group shows that the...
Towards Gender Inclusive and Sustainable Transport Systems
Jun 24, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
UK Feminist Green New Deal Policy Papers Read the full policy paper here. To decarbonise transport and democratise the right to safe mobility, our transport systems must be inclusive and sustainable. This paper discusses four key structural factors that create gender...
Covid- 19 and Working-Class Women Study
May 27, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
Over the past year, WBG has been collaborating with researcher Tracey Warren from Nottingham University and Clare Lyonette from the University of Warwick, to analyse the impact of the pandemic on working-class women. We have carried out detailed analyses on topics...
The Queen’s Speech 2021 – Still No Word on Care.
May 12, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
Speaking in response to the Queen's Speech yesterday, Women's Budget Group Director Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson said: "After the failure of successive governments to address the crisis in social care, it was disappointing that the Queen's Speech only contained a vague...
Losses in the Childcare Sector
May 11, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
This briefing looks at the new data published by the Department of Education which reveals a significant fall in the number of childcare providers since April 2020. Between April 2020 and March 2021, the number of childcare providers fell by 2,940, from 74,983 to...
A purple, green and red new deal for equitable sustainable development in the UK
May 6, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
This briefing by Özlem Onaran, Professor of Economics at University of Greenwich, and co-authors, explores policies that can provide the elements of a new social contract for a purple, green and red new deal after the Covid-19 crisis. Read the full briefing here...
Equality impact assessments and equality-responsiveness of budgets in English local authorities
Apr 29, 2021 | UK Policy Briefings
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty, contained in the 2010 Equality Act, all public bodies in England, Scotland and Wales have to have ‘due regard’ to the impact of their policies on eliminating discrimination and harassment, promoting equality and fostering good...
Gender Differences in Access to Coronavirus Government Support
Apr 19, 2021 | Analysis, Reports
The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted women’s employment and self-employment,exacerbating inequalities in the labour market.The Government have put schemes in place to protect workers’ earnings and jobs,but there have been clear differences between women and men in...
One year on: Women are less likely than men to feel the Government’s response to Covid-19 has met their needs
Mar 31, 2021 | Reports
Read the latest briefing by six women’s organisations: Close the Gap, Engender, Fawcett Society, Northern Ireland Women’s Budget Group, Women’s Budget Group, and Women’s Equality Network Wales One year into the coronavirus pandemic, we asked respondents across the...
A missed opportunity to ‘Build Back Better’ Our response to the Spring Budget 2021
Mar 11, 2021 | UK Budget Assessments
Our full gendered analysis of the 2021 Spring Budget can be viewed and downloaded as a pdf here. Download the large print version here. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated inequalities within our economy and society. Years of cuts and underspending left...
The Women’s Budget Group response to the Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement
Mar 10, 2021 | Consultation Responses
The UK Women's Budget has responded to the Green Paper on Transforming Public Procurement. Our response focusses on the principles covering public procurement and tax transparency. You can read our full response here.
Spring Budget 2021 -Our Initial Response
Mar 4, 2021 | Analysis, UK Budget Assessments
Public service cuts will hit women and poorest hardest, while business stands to receive ‘biggest tax cut in modern history’ You can download our initial response to the budget here. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated inequalities within our economy...
Spring Budget 2021: Women and employment during Covid-19
Mar 1, 2021 | Analysis, UK Policy Briefings
View and download the full briefing here. Key facts: Women are the majority of employees in industries with some of the highest Covid-19 job losses, including retail, accommodation and food services. Overall, more women than men have been furloughed across the UK, and...