Ben Paxton
Senior Researcher
Ben's recent work
All work
The “welfare versus defence” framing oversimplifies the difficult trade-offs
Lord Robertson is wrong to suggest welfare cuts alone can pay for defence.
Designing and delivering employment support
How can government better support people out of work due to ill health?
How is election spending regulated in the UK?
Party campaign spending is regulated by the Electoral Commission.
Four things we learnt from Rachel Reeves’s spring forecast 2026
The chancellor’s spring forecast was short and free of new policy content.
Five things we learned at the IfG's Government 2026 conference
What lies in store for government in 2026?
Whitehall Monitor 2026: Methodology
The methodology underpinning the analysis in Whitehall Monitor 2026.
Whitehall Monitor 2026: Conclusion
Rewiring the state?
Whitehall Monitor 2026
Labour’s efforts to ‘rewire the state’ aren’t addressing longstanding workforce problems.
Whitehall Monitor 2026: Part 2 - The state of the civil service
Analysis of how the civil service changed in 2025, including its size, structure and morale, and the approach to digital transformation and AI.
Whitehall Monitor 2026: Part 1 - The government
Analysis of the political and permanent secretary changes of 2025, and the progress of 'mission-led' government.