Louise Marston

Terry Farrell, architect who designed MI6 building, dies aged 87 He also designed the headquarters for ITV's 80s breakfast show TV-am, with giant eggcups on the roof.

RIP Terry Farrell architect of the least discreet intelligence agency building and many other enjoyable structures. Recommend his book on London.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Is the Government going to announce an end to the two-child limit this autumn?

@ruthcurtice.bsky.social explains why they should ⤵️

Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs We should realise that training alongside decent work is a better next step for some 16-year-olds

Good to see the commitment to a job guarantee for young people long-term excluded from work or learning. Vital step. Lots of other elements needed to get this right. My recent thoughts.

on.ft.com/3ILpb8T Let’s not forget the young people without GCSEs

Switching 2p from National Insurance to Income Tax could raise £6 billion while protecting workers’ pay packets.

Here's what you need to know 👇 👇 👇

At our event Jennifer Dixon from @healthfoundation.bsky.social reflects on her experience on the Barnsley Commission that examined inactivity problems in the area. There was a particular job readiness challenge for young people post-pandemic…

Chart of Earnings Call coverage, with a count of how many quarterly earnings calls in that quarter feature one or more “great quarter, guys”.

This chart is 👌
(Via FT Alphaville)

on.ft.com/3ICXT4B

👍 Good news: consumer debt (e.g. credit cards) is declining.

👎 Not-so-good news: Priority debt (energy, rent, Council Tax) is on the rise.

@feliciao.bsky.social explains ⤵️

The even more unbelievable crime fact (which I learned relatively recently) is that burglary has fallen by more than 90% since the 1990s.

Did anyone notice? Nope. Does anyone believe it? Nope. But is is true? It is!

Call of duties • Resolution Foundation Ahead of the Budget, this report considers the options for the Government to respond decisively to a deterioration in the public finances while also making the tax system fairer and more efficient.

And please read the full report by Adam Corlett:

Call of duties: Revenue and reform for Autumn Budget 2025

www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

🚨Join our team as Lead Funding Manager - A Fairer Future!

We're looking for an experienced funder who is committed to social justice and ambitious to help create change. This is a leadership role with a focus on Gender Justice and Children and Young People’s Rights.

The upcoming Budget presents various challenges.

@ruthcurtice.bsky.social explains our recommendations for reform and revenue raising ⤵️

Chart showing proportion of non-pensioner families with savings below a given threshold: Gb 2020-2022. The charts shows that three-in-five (60 per cent) of families in the bottom half of the income distribution had liquid savings of less than three months’ income, compared to two-in-five among families in the top half of the distribution (38 per cent). This gap widens, however, if we look at a lower savings threshold of £1,000 – not enough for a prolonged period of lost income, but sufficient to cover an urgent need like a car break-down or broken boiler. 47 per cent of families in the bottom half of the income distribution have less than £1,000 in liquid savings, almost three times the proportion in the top of half of the distribution (17 per cent).

Almost half (47%) of families in the bottom half of the income distribution have less than £1,000 in liquid savings, almost three times the proportion as the top of half.

These are the sort of funds that would be used to cover urgent needs - like a car break-down of broken boiler.

Quote from Louise Marston: Over the last five years, we’ve demonstrated that this approach works. Our portfolio of Workertech investments has reached over 358,000 workers, with more than 20,000 actively using our portfolio companies’ services to improve their working lives. Most importantly, over 5,600 workers have experienced transformational changes in their pay, prospects, power, or wellbeing—proving that purpose-driven technology can create meaningful change.

Building on five years of proven impact, Resolution Ventures is launching the UK’s first dedicated investment fund for technology that improves low-paid work.

Read the the blog from Director of Ventures @louisemarston.bsky.social⬇️

buff.ly/7xVsGIk

#2: Hopeful Actions What's next for the Society for Hopeful Technologists: events, principles, and opportunities to get involved.

Morning! Society for Hopeful Technologists newsletter #2 is arriving in inboxes now. A little bit on Musk and X, much more about future plans + organising buttondown.com/society-of-h... and great to have a group of fellow organisers coming together 💪

I'm delighted to announce the first close of the #WorkerTech Fund, the UK's first impact investment fund dedicated to improving low-paid work from Resolution Ventures. This builds on great work @resolutionfoundation over the last 5 years. Find out more: www.resolutionfoundation.org/comment/laun...

As someone who has been Extremely Online for more than 25 yrs, whose working life is one long hunt for weak signals/what's next, my advice for folks in the UK who don't really need to be on top of the news on an ongoing basis is to spend some regular time tuning out over the next few days

Similar trends can be seen in the finances of those seeking debt advice. Figure 14 shows the recent change in the average levels of different debt types among Citizens Advice clients. Compared to 2019, the average Citizens Advice client in April-June 2025 owed around 40 per cent more in energy arrears and 30 per cent less in credit card debt, after adjusting for inflation. The average level of Council Tax arrears is more cyclical than other debt types, making it hard to compare the latest data to 2019 as a whole, but its recent peak in July-September 2024 was 13 per cent higher in real terms than the same period in 2019

Those seeking debt advice today tend to have less credit card debt and more energy debt than pre-pandemic.

Compared to 2019, the average Citizens Advice client in April-June 2025 owed around 40 per cent more in energy arrears and 30 per cent less in credit card debt, after adjusting for inflation.

Institute for Government

I am delighted to announce that we are recruiting to three new roles in the @instituteforgovernment.org.uk’s senior team.

Take a look if you want to help us grow our impact & develop our brilliant research (details of the Academy Director role will be up next week) 👇 micro.green-park.co.uk/ifg/

Starting now! Watch our event in which we'll discuss new RF research on lower-income families' savings, debts and arrears, and hear from leading experts on how to improve their financial reslience. www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/stron...

Fantastic to work with @anandmenon.bsky.social and others on this report out this morning. Big takeaway from our panel - is the government prepared to take on fights this Autumn to make progress on these challenges. Nothing left to lose, or the window of opportunity to be bold already passed?

📣 We're hiring! 📣

Do you have an interest in the economic and social policy of the UK and an eye for detail?

Find out more about joining our team as a Researcher ⤵️ buff.ly/VVGWc14

I like this! I've been deploying this superpower to *very loudly* ask people on tubes/trains to give up their seats for others. But it would be great to do something more productive too! :)

Advert for the event: Making Britain work for everyone How can employers go further to recruit and retain disabled workers? Date and time: Thursday 24 July 2025 9:30 am - 10:45 am Speakers Charlie Mayfield Lead of the Keep Britain Working Review and former chairman of the John Lewis Partnership Beth Kume-Holland Founder and CEO of Patchwork Hub Rachel Suff Senior Employee Relations Advisor at the CIPD Louise Murphy Senior Economist at the Resolution Foundation Ruth Curtice Chief Executive at the Resolution Foundation

How can employers go further to recruit and retain disabled workers?

Join us on Thursday to hear from our expert panel on how Government and employers can make improvements.

Sign-up➡️ buff.ly/1MIErm8

The share of employees in low pay (defined as people with hourly pay below 2/3 median) has fallen to an all time low of 3 per cent thanks to increases in the minimum wage.

That awkward thing where you write an annual report called 'Low Pay Britain' but 'low pay' has been all but eliminated (on the standard hourly pay < 2/3 median measure).

(Our 2025 Low Pay Britain report is out on Thursday, launch event here www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/new-d... )

The dominance of energy bills in driving inflation in recent years has meant that poorer households have faced signifcantly higher inflation than richer households.

Lalitha Try explains ⤵️

Chart showing Cumulative change in prices and 25th percentile of working-age household income since 2000: UK

Since 2000, energy prices have consistently outpaced both inflation and poorer households’ income growth 👇

🚨 New project alert! We're tackling gaps in UK poverty data with the Centre for Public Data, funded by @jrf-uk.bsky.social

Exploring how missing data affects communities & how admin data can drive better policy 📊

🔗 Read more: rss.org.uk/news-publica...

If you're trying to follow along with the welfare and benefits changes, Louise has you covered here with more details on the consultation process, which concludes today:

Flex appeal • Resolution Foundation Britain needs to transform its electricity system for net zero, shifting from fixed prices to time-and-location varying tariffs. This could save £18bn annually by 2040, but it requires careful design ...

Changing how we generate electricity means we also have to change how we use it.

That means pricing electricity when and where it's expensive, to make our system more efficient and bring bills down - worth £200 a household. But there are risks to manage.

[thread]

tinyurl.com/y7z2u269