Joe Harrison, Cyril Davydenko and Bartek Staniszewski

March 2026

This report examines the trends in, and private and public impacts of, stagnant living standards in the UK over the past few decades.

The report focuses on costs rather than incomes as a means of improving living standards for low-to-middle income households. In the UK context, the need for – and potential impact of – lower costs is greatest in two essential markets: housing and energy. Housing and energy costs are the biggest areas of difference between the outgoings of low-to-middle and higher income households, and the combined costs of both are 44% higher in the UK than across the OECD.

The report also proposes eight new policies for the UK central government to adopt to increase abundance and certainty in the housing and energy markets as to reduce costs for low-to-middle income households.