Labour Market Realities: Growing Precarity for Housing Workers
Kingsley Abrams on Labour Market Realities for Housing Workers from CLASS on Vimeo. As today’s labour market statistics yet again show record high levels of employment, it is worth remembering…
Selling off the government’s stake in housing associations is the endgame for social housing
The headline in today’s Financial Times reads: “Osborne eyes privatisation of stake in social housing”. It signifies the Tory endgame for social housing in England. It marks a dramatic step…
Why Performance Related Pay won’t work
There is no evidence that performance related pay (PRP) will improve teaching or educational standards. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a paper in 2025 which said…
Second Lockdown Blues
The start of a new period of lockdown across much of the UK requires a moment of serious reflection. Much of this will focus on the medical necessity for this…
Conservative Party Conference: The view from the library next door
I’m writing this blog from the brand new Library of Birmingham, a £180 million project which is central to the regeneration of Birmingham. Happily, the library is right next door…
How our social security system holds back low-paid workers
Britain’s poorest working parents lose more of their earnings through taxes and social security withdrawal than the richest 1 per cent, and should be allowed to keep more of the…
A £12bn cut in welfare will put huge pressure on the NHS
I have worked enough hours on the front line of the NHS to see where the next crisis will come from. The people who suffer stoically through humiliating cuts to…
How the economic crisis is being used to attack employment rights across Europe
A new Working Paper by Isabelle Schömann (ETUI) and Stefan Clauwaert (ETUI) “The Crisis and National Labour Law Reforms: A Mapping Exercise” sets out how the economic crisis is being…
What to make of the latest claims on living standards?
The Government are today claiming that ‘take home pay’ has risen for 90% of workers. If true this would be excellent news but I’m afraid there a quite a few…
CLASS Panel Reacts To Summer Statement
Our expert panel reflect on what Rishi Sunak’s Summer Statement means for workers, the environment, inequality and tax. Think again Chancellor Steve Turner – Assistant General Secretary, Unite the Union…
Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse centralises power and devolves blame
Central Control but local delivery The Sheffield City Deal – part of George Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse project – was announced last week to coincide with the Conservative Party conference. The…