The Resolution Foundation is an independent British think tank focused on improving living standards for those on low to middle incomes. Founded in 2005 by Sir Clive Cowdery, it has become one of the most influential voices in UK economic and social policy, combining forensic research with active policy promotion to put living standards at the heart of political debate.
A think tank for living standards
The Resolution Foundation describes itself as an independent think tank focused on improving living standards for those on low to middle incomes. It works across a wide range of economic and social policy areas, combining its core purpose with a commitment to analytical rigour. These twin pillars of rigour and purpose underpin everything it does and have made it, in its own assessment, the leading UK authority on securing widely shared economic growth. It is a close-knit team of around 30 people, based in an office in Westminster, next to St James's Park, where staff work flexibly and share cross-organisational projects. The Foundation's work is overseen by a board of trustees and is primarily funded by the Resolution Trust, a UK registered charity.
Founded in 2005 by Clive Cowdery
The Foundation was founded in 2005 by Clive Cowdery, the insurance entrepreneur behind the Resolution Group, which he had established in 2003. Cowdery, who was knighted in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to children and social mobility, has devoted half of all proceeds from his Resolution business ventures to charity, and the Foundation is the principal expression of that philanthropy. Resolution Capital has founded, built and sold four life insurance consolidation and reinsurance companies under the Resolution Life brand, raising and deploying more than 20 billion dollars of equity since 2003 to support the global life insurance industry, with its most recent company sold in 2025 to Nippon Life of Japan. Cowdery remains Founder and Chairman of the Foundation, and chairs its board of trustees.
From financial inclusion to low pay
The Foundation's first programme of work addressed financial inclusion. Giving evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee in March 2006, Cowdery explained that the organisation had been put together towards the end of the previous summer specifically to address how people on lower earnings access the financial services system. As financial advice had become bundled with product sales over the preceding 20 years, low earners were increasingly unable to get holistic advice about their financial affairs. The Foundation was set up as a not-for-profit, independently funded, non-industry organisation to bring business skills to bear on that single area of social policy. From there, its focus broadened to low pay and the living standards of working families, which became its defining mission.
Shaping the political vocabulary
Over two decades, the Foundation's research has reshaped how Britain talks about economic hardship. In its own 20th-anniversary account, it describes how its initial programme articulated, with its now-famous penchant for charts and data, the challenges of the low paid, targeting the public, the press and politicians as an authoritative voice for low-paid and struggling families, always rooted in rigorous research rather than emotional appeal. Within a few years, the public and political discussion had shifted, with phrases such as 'the left behind', 'the squeezed middle' and 'just about managing' used interchangeably and frequently in press and political commentary. The Foundation's ability to coin and popularise such terms has been one of its most visible achievements.
The National Living Wage and beyond
The Foundation's policy work in its early years was energetically focused on pay progression, with minimum wages an obvious target. The reduction in very low hourly-paid wages, down from 22 per cent to just 3 per cent of employees over the period, is one outcome of such a focus, as is the landmark introduction of a National Living Wage in 2015. The Foundation also engaged on childcare and on forensic work examining how the tax and welfare systems operate for working people. Some gains were incremental, such as making Universal Credit work better for working people, while others were more vital, such as preventing major income losses from tax credit cuts. Throughout, its method has been to pair detailed quantitative analysis with concrete policy proposals aimed at ministers of all parties.
Intergenerational fairness
A second major strand of the Foundation's work concerns the economic prospects of different generations. It established an Intergenerational Centre, whose advisory council is led by David Willetts as President of the Advisory Council and Intergenerational Centre. The centre's research has examined how housing costs, pension provision, student debt and wage stagnation have combined to leave younger cohorts facing more difficult economic circumstances than their parents. This work has fed into debates about tax reform, housing policy and the intergenerational distribution of public spending, and has become one of the Foundation's most cited areas of analysis.
Leadership and team
Founded by Sir Clive Cowdery as Chair of Trustees in 2005, the Foundation has been led in recent years by chief executives including Torsten Bell, with Gavin Kelly serving as chair and Mike Brewer as interim chief executive. The organisation's alumni have had an unusual journey into the heart of British political decision-making: no fewer than seven Resolution associates have found themselves in senior government positions, five of them appointed since Labour's election victory in 2024, including former chief executive Torsten Bell, who was elected to Parliament and became a pensions minister. This pipeline from think tank to Whitehall testifies to the Foundation's influence on the governing party's economic thinking.
Funding and Westminster base
The Foundation is primarily funded by the Resolution Trust, which provides funding for the Resolution Foundation and other public interest and philanthropic activities. It also partners with a range of other organisations and research institutions for project-specific work. Its Westminster office, close to St James's Park, places it at the centre of British political life, and its events, briefings and reports are a fixture of the policy calendar. The official website is resolutionfoundation.org, where the Foundation publishes its research, data visualisations and commentary.
Influence at twenty
Marking its 20th anniversary in 2025, the Foundation published 'Resolution Foundation at 20', reflecting on two decades of work and on the challenges facing British living standards. Its own assessment is that wages and household incomes have stagnated since it started, leaving a troubled picture for Britain in general and for working families in particular. Yet it also claims a record of tangible policy wins, from the minimum wage to welfare reforms, and a deeper cultural achievement: making living standards the central measure by which economic policy is judged. Whether in government or opposition, British politicians now frame their economic arguments in terms the Foundation helped to define.
Why the Resolution Foundation matters
In a crowded think-tank landscape, the Resolution Foundation stands out for its single-minded focus on a defined group, low-to-middle-income households, and for its combination of analytical depth and political effectiveness. Funded by one man's philanthropy yet fiercely independent in its analysis, it has shown how a small team of around 30 researchers can shift national debate and change government policy. Its next two decades will be judged by whether Britain can break the stagnation in living standards that the Foundation has spent its first twenty years documenting.
