London Economics' Education and Labour Markets Team

Welsh election student loan promises ‘unworkable without cuts’ Changes to system put forward by Plaid Cymru and Reform UK ahead of coming election would breach Treasury rules, economists warn

Changes to student finance pledged by front runners in Welsh election may be unworkable without cuts in other areas and could leave some graduates repaying more, warns @le-education.bsky.social @hepi-news.bsky.social research www.timeshighereducation.com/news/welsh-e... via @helenpacker.bsky.social

New Post: WEEKEND READING: Fiscal drag or fiscal sense? Freezing student loan repayment thresholds www.hepi.ac.uk/2026/02/07/w...

Rights and Right-Holding Matthew Kramer is the foremost contemporary proponent of the Interest theory of rights, and his latest monograph is a definitive statement and defense of that theory. While some of the arguments in Ri...

My review of Matt Kramer's impressive book, Rights and Right-Holding url: read.dukeupress.edu/the-philosop...

Thrilled to see our childcare policy research cited by Plaid Cymru and directly feeding into their manifesto pledge announced today at their party conference - includes a new universal offer of 20hrs per week of funded childcare for all children from the age of 9 months to 4 years…

Our research published today by DfE highlights the importance of not seeing the childcare sector as one monolithic block, with half the sector not being able to cover their costs.

@le-education.bsky.social

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68d11e...

One of the rare exceptions … it can be baffling

In Irish, ‘geansai’ (there is a fada (lengthening) accent on the ‘i’) translates as ‘sweater’

The state of the UK higher education sector’s finances - HEPI In recent years, financial pressures have mounted across the entirety of the UK higher education (HE) sector, and have left many institutions in an exceptionally vulnerable position. In England alone,...

Dear Lord, university finance figures are bad. 40% of them have negative Net Cash Inflow; their assets to liabilities capacity is declining rapidly; 24 of them had fewer than 30 liquidity days on hand even in 2023/24. 😓😱 www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/07/08/t...

🚨 New analysis by London Economics for @savechildrenuk.bsky.social highlights significant funding shortfalls in government support for childcare, and sets out funding requirements to improve quality and inclusivity.

📍 Link to @le-education.bsky.social summary londoneconomics.co.uk/blog/publica...

Delighted to have attended a 2 day session hosted by the Royal Society of Edinburgh looking at the funding of tertiary education in Scotland. We looked at the funding arrangements across the 4 Home Nations of the UK. Some stark differences! Here is the link. londoneconomics.co.uk/blog/publica...

New report reveals northern research universities generate £18.8 billion boost to UK economy - N8 Research Partnership Report demonstrates that the N8 universities are not only major drivers of economic growth in the North of England – they are also delivering exceptional value for the UK as a whole...

A new report published today by London Economics highlights how the N8 Research Partnership is driving jobs, innovation & growth across the North - and beyond.

www.n8research.org.uk/new-report-r...

The economic impact of the N8 Research Partnership - May 2025 - London Economics London Economics were commissioned to assess the impact of N8 universities’ research, knowledge exchange activities and institutional expenditures on the UK economy, focusing on the 2021-22 academic y...

The report shows substantial impacts associated with the universities' activities on the North of England, with N8 universities supporting over 75,000 jobs in the North in 2021-22 across these strands alone. Further details can be found at the link below:

We find that N8 universities’ research activities accounted for £8.6 billion of this impact, with £1.7 billion associated with the universities’ knowledge exchange activities, and the remaining £8.5 billion being generated through the N8 universities' institutional expenditures.

Our report for @n8research.bsky.social assessing the impact of N8 universities’ research, knowledge exchange and institutional expenditures on the UK economy is out today. We find a total economic impact of the N8 Research Partnership across these strands of impact of £18.8 billion in 2021-22.

Further details and the full report can be found at the link below: londoneconomics.co.uk/blog/publica...

We find that the alternative system had almost identical Exchequer costs to the current system but allowed for greater levels of maintenance support for the poorest students, whilst making the repayment of student loans more progressive.

Our report for the National Union of Students and University of the Arts London was published today, modelling an alternative undergraduate funding system consisting of the reintroduction of maintenance grants for the least well-off students, combined with a ‘stepped repayment’ system.

New report out today illustrating the University of Sheffield's @sheffielduni.bsky.social economic and social impact (£4.82bn). Nice infographics and explainers here www.sheffield.ac.uk/about/econom...

we administered a choice experiment to assess the impact of loan forgiveness on nurse retention.

We found that student loan forgiveness would lead to nurses working for 7-10 years longer in the public sector.

Makes a lot of economic sense.

londoneconomics.co.uk/blog/publica...

@rcn.org.uk

This is absolutely brilliant stuff …. well done @su-min-lee.bsky.social and thanks to the Nuffield Foundation for funding the research

Delighted to see the economic impact analysis of Waltham Forest College published today www.waltham.ac.uk/images/repor...

On top of the massive learning impact of the College, we identified an economic impact of £304 million (and a benefit-to-cost ratio of 11.6).

New DfE statistics highlight sharp rises in early years fees for parents Average parent-paid fees for early years places increased steeply between 2023 and 2024, new statistics published today by the Department for Education (DfE) show.

Great to see our @le-education.bsky.social childcare research cited by the Early Years Alliance, who highlight the significant increases in average early years fees paid for by parents: between 6.8% and 9.1% increases across age groups from 2023 to 2024.
www.eyalliance.org.uk/news/2024/12...

▶️ For more highlights, read the summary here londoneconomics.co.uk/blog/publica... and follow @le-education.bsky.social for more childcare analysis, including our recent report published by the DfE on the state of providers' finances.

Important thread on new analysis of childcare provider survey below. Well worth a read!!

Here is a fantastic new report on the state of the childcare sector in England. Lots on finances, costs, workforce and funding ….

@su-min-lee.bsky.social

Podcast: Financial sustainability, cold spots, student housing This week on the podcast Team Wonkhe has been at Labour Conference in Liverpool - we discuss what was and wasn’t said about higher education.

Nice to be on this week’s @wonkhe.bsky.social podcast: HE finances; SHAPE coldspots; and the Telegraph’s (really the Socialist Worker) view on students
wonkhe.com/blogs/podcas...

One of the best lead indicators of UK economic performance - New Car Registrations - *declined* by 6% this month against a consensus forecast of +1%. That’s really troubling.

Thanks for this. Please add us for UK HE fees and finances!

Well, we have been asked to provide a session on HEI finances to @advancehe.bsky.social. Always a pleasure, but its unlikely to be pretty ☹️

LE Education will be predominantly posting here in future - lots of HE related material but a lot of labour and early years analysis too!