SMES: mind the productivity gap
The UK small business productivity gap is narrowing as the best-performing regions dip and typically poor-performing regions step up. We ask: what’s the task at hand for the next government?
Read the latest insights on the public finances, including the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on public finances in the UK and around the world. Find out more about tax and other income, public spending, public assets and public liabilities including debt, and what governments can do to develop an effective long-term fiscal strategy to ensure the sustainability of public finances.
The UK small business productivity gap is narrowing as the best-performing regions dip and typically poor-performing regions step up. We ask: what’s the task at hand for the next government?
This month’s top stories include an explainer on the basis period reform, a summary of the key tax policies from the main parties’ general election 2024 manifestos; and HMRC reminds taxpayers about roll-over relief claims.
Public sector net debt increased by £49bn in May from £2,694bn to £2,743bn, 51% higher than it was in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
This week’s chart is on manifesto costings, illustrating the scale of each party’s promises and how they expect to fund them.
Prior month revisions boost public finances despite worse than expected self assessment receipts, as a think tank says tax cuts in the Budget will be sandwiched between tax rises in the years before and after.
Public spend as a share of the economy must fall over the next five years to make the sums add up – a big challenge for the next government.
Now that the dust has settled on last month’s Spring Budget, ICAEW has published a more detailed analysis on the implications for the public finances.
Our chart this week looks at how liabilities in the UK’s public balance sheet have risen significantly over the five years to March 2022.
Chancellor cuts national insurance again but defers difficult decisions on public spending until after the general election.
In a letter to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Institute writes about the Spending Review scheduled for later this year, cost effectiveness in infrastructure delivery and public sector productivity.
Without extra funds, more English councils are set to go bankrupt – but those in the North are more at risk than councils in the South as regional inequalities are exposed.
The first face-to-face meeting of the Strategic Finance Network Group tackled the fascinating subject of ‘Influencing Upwards’ at an event hosted by ICAEW at Chartered Accountants Hall.
ICAEW welcomes the publication of the Whole of Government Accounts for 2018-19, the UK Government’s annual financial report for the year ended 31 March 2019.
On 18 July 2019, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its second fiscal risks report. The fiscal risks report provides an analysis of the economic and policy risks facing the public finances, including a ‘fiscal stress test’, setting out how the fiscal numbers might react to a no-deal Brexit.
A collection of independent essays and an ICAEW/PwC call for EU reform.
Synopsis of the Global Financial Stability and Public Debt.
This survey provides a unique picture of the views of 10,000 Europeans on intergenerational fairness.
Ensuring intergenerational fairness is one of the biggest challenges facing European policymakers today. Citizens are increasingly worried that they and their children may end up worse off than previous generations, challenging a key premise that has long underpinned societies: each successive generation would become better off than the one before.
Download Sustainable Public Finances – EU Perspectives: 7 Key Insights.
Policy insight examining the view that infrastructure needs to be a central priority for policymakers given the increased economic uncertainty that has emerged following the decision of the British people to leave the EU.