Levelling Up

Reducing economic disparities between places

Our work on the UK’s regional disparities has been the engine behind the levelling up agenda. This programme focuses on bridging the UK’s longstanding spatial inequalities and bringing economic opportunity to places which have lagged behind for too long.

Exploring the relationship between cities and their peripheral towns.
How Development Corporations can help solve Britain’s housing crisis
Giving Back Better looks at how the UK could unlock greater philanthropy in the UK.
Troubled Waters, exposes the divide between England’s coast and inland areas, arguing for a bold economic and social transformation programme.
How local government funding misses areas with fewer opportunities.
Unlocking local growth in Scotland
Dec 8
10:00-
11:00
How we can level up Further Education and give people the opportunity to go far whilst staying local.
Oct 4
14:45-
15:45
The role of the rural economy in levelling up
Oct 4
16:00-
17:00
How can we use cities to drive levelling up?
Oct 4
19:30-
23:00
How can transport connectivity support levelling up?
Oct 3
16:15-
17:15
How to help young people after the pandemic?
Jul 13
10:00-
10:00
How to upgrade the country’s toolkit to maximise the volume and quality to FDI projects, and, importantly, how to ensure that lagging areas benefit.
Jun 10
What policies could support UK manufacturing?
May 18
How can we finance levelling up across the country?
May 17
Connecting people, jobs and communities
Dec 8
10:00-
11:00
How we can level up Further Education and give people the opportunity to go far whilst staying local.
Oct 4
19:30-
23:00
How can transport connectivity support levelling up?
Oct 4
14:45-
15:45
The role of the rural economy in levelling up
Oct 4
16:00-
17:00
How can we use cities to drive levelling up?
Oct 3
16:15-
17:15
How to help young people after the pandemic?
Jul 13
10:00-
10:00
How to upgrade the country’s toolkit to maximise the volume and quality to FDI projects, and, importantly, how to ensure that lagging areas benefit.

Onward Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee talks to iNews about 'Levelling Up'.

Onward's Deputy Director, Adam Hawksbee, and researcher Shivani Menon discuss philanthropy in 'The New Statesman'. Read the article here.

Onward's philanthropy Giving Back Better was used by the Culture Sec Lucy Frazer to encourage them to streamline Gift Aid.

Senior Researcher Shivani H Menon writes for the Local Government Association on how local leaders can unlock philanthropy in their communities.

Adam Hawksbee, Deputy Director, discusses the consequences for levelling up if HS2 is scrapped.

Jenevieve Treadwell, Senior Researcher, writes for the New Statesman on the national importance of coastal revival and the political gains supporting this may yield.

Jenevieve Treadwell, Senior Researcher, writes for PoliticsHome on the importance of reviving coastal economies, discussing our recent report Troubled Waters.

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes on Birmingham City Council's s114 notice.

Deputy director, Adam Hawksbee, discusses our report The Social Mobility Penalty.

Onward Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee talks to iNews about 'Levelling Up'.

Onward's Deputy Director, Adam Hawksbee, and researcher Shivani Menon discuss philanthropy in 'The New Statesman'. Read the article here.

Onward's philanthropy Giving Back Better was used by the Culture Sec Lucy Frazer to encourage them to streamline Gift Aid.

Senior Researcher Shivani H Menon writes for the Local Government Association on how local leaders can unlock philanthropy in their communities.

Adam Hawksbee, Deputy Director, discusses the consequences for levelling up if HS2 is scrapped.

Jenevieve Treadwell, Senior Researcher, writes for the New Statesman on the national importance of coastal revival and the political gains supporting this may yield.

Jenevieve Treadwell, Senior Researcher, writes for PoliticsHome on the importance of reviving coastal economies, discussing our recent report Troubled Waters.

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes on Birmingham City Council's s114 notice.

Deputy director, Adam Hawksbee, discusses our report The Social Mobility Penalty.

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes for City AM about regenerating Britain's towns and if the Conservatives can take advantage of accomplishing that.

Shivani H Menon and Adam Hawksbee write about community-based approaches to tackle youth violence

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes for Conservative Home about youth mental health issues.

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes his City AM column about a recent example in North Yorkshire about how to level up effectively.

Politics Home mentions Onward's work on 'Levelling Up Locally' in relation to the coronation of King Charles III.

Shivani Menon, Onward's researcher, wrote an op-ed for LGO about our recent report 'Levelling Up Locally'.

Shivani Menon, Onward's researcher, wrote an op-ed for LGO about our recent report 'Levelling Up Locally'.

Sebastian Payne, Onward's Director, wrote an op-ed for The Times about tackling antisocial behaviour.

Media coverage for Green Jobs, Red Wall, including Adam Hawksbee and Saqib Bhatti's op-ed for Times Red Box and news reports from Politics Home, City AM and Energy Voice.

Adam Hawksbee and Saqib Bhatti write for Times Red Box on Onward's new report, Green Jobs Red Wall, on the opportunities for Levelling Up provided by driving investment in green industries.

Adam Hawksbee and Saqib Bhatti write for Times Red Box on Onward's new report Green Jobs, Red Wall, on the opportunities for Levelling Up that could be boosted by investment in green industries.

Director Will Tanner wrote for the Prospect Magazine on what the Government's policies announced in the Queen's speech means for broader politics.

Director Will Tanner also wrote for The Times Red Box on how the infrastructure levy and neighbourhood share will be key to delivering on levelling up goals.

Director Will Tanner authored a letter for The Financial Times, setting out how apprenticeships serve as a great alternative to low-value degrees.

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes for the Yorkshire Post, citing the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in South Yorkshire as a model for integrated apprenticeship delivery

Director Will Tanner wrote for Politics Home, discussing how the current apprenticeship system is failing to serve the group of learners that could benefit most from it.

Media coverage summary for the report 'Course Correction.'

Senior Researcher Francesca Fraser summarises our research report Course Correction, arguing that current gaps in the apprenticeship system undermine levelling up.

Director Will Tanner writes for the House Magazine on how the success of levelling up will depend on whether it can survive a change in political leadership

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee shares the findings from focus groups we conducted in Oldham, Manchester.

Will Tanner and Richard Holden MP write for Times Red Box about our recent report, Levelling Up Pensions.

Will Tanner argues in Times Red Box that the Chancellor's Budget should focus less on cost of living and more on the foundation of a productive economy: skills, R&D and investment.

James Blagden, Senior Researcher at Onward, wrote for the Bennett Institute at Cambridge University about the effect of transport connectivity on regional earnings.

Robert Largan MP writes for Times Red Box about the transport connectivity gap between his constituency and similar places in the South of England.

Will Tanner writes for House Magazine about the defining challenges facing the Government.

Will Tanner writes for Prospect Magazine on the big policy battles facing Boris Johnson going into Conservative Party Conference.

Will Tanner writes for the i Newspaper about the establishment of a new Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Will Tanner writes for Times Red Box on how to fix local government financing.

Selaine Saxby MP writes for ConservativeHome following her Onward report on levelling up the South West.

Will Holloway writes for ConservativeHome calling for a National Plan for Manufacturing, following findings in our research 'Making a Comeback'

Onward's Francesca Fraser writes for Prospect about the need for Government to address the inequities of the school system within their levelling up agenda.

Will Tanner writes for The Times about the importance of education within the levelling up agenda

Media coverage summary of Levelling up the Tax System.

Research released by Onward demonstrates how much accumulated decision-making the Chancellor will need to unwind if wants to make a dent on regional imbalances, writes James Blagden.

The Yorkshire Post

'The Yorkshire Post' cites Onward's findings that mayors should create development corps to aid levelling up.

The Independent

'The Independent' reports on a speech made by Robert Jenrick on manufacturing at Onward's under-35s only event in March this year.

The National News

'The National News' mentions Onward's 2023 report which states that Clacton ranks among the top 1% of most deprived neighborhoods in England, in the context of Nigel Farage's prospects in the upcoming general election.

The Municipal Journal

'The Municipal Journal' quotes Onward's report on the potential of mayoral devolution.

The Times

Deputy Director Adam Hawksbee writes for the Times on opportunities to address the housing crisis and regenerate coastal communities.

The new Tory tribes

The New Statesman mentions Onward regarding Michael Gove's comments about a renewed focus on public services, regional inequality and living standards.

LBC

Unity Howard, Director of the New Schools Network and co-editor of Lost Learning, spoke to Shelagh Fogarty on LBC.

Times Radio

Will Tanner, Onward's Director, spoke to Ayesha Hazarika on Times Radio.

The Times

As a paper by Onward think tank set out, cutting council tax rates in the lowest band and raising it for the highest would give poorer households, with a higher propensity to consume, more spending power. Rich households can absorb higher council rates.

Conservative Home

The report considers which tax changes might have the biggest impact on helping people in the most deprived parts of the country as we recover from a global pandemic.

Western Morning News

MP for North Devon, Selaine Saxby, considers the impact of different taxes on the South West using Onward's modelling in 'Levelling Up the Tax System'.

The Telegraph Business

Council tax should be a key target for reform, according to the think tank Onward in research for the Levelling Up Taskforce, which counts 65 'red wall' MP's among its backers.

The Sun

Shocking economic divide between London and rest of UK exposed.

Reaction

Onward's report 'Levelling up' highlights the extent to which government R&D spending varies across the country, and how changing this will benefit the economy overall.

The Times

London and the South East get more per head in taxpayer cash for transport, housing, innovation and culture, says Onward, a Conservative-leaning think tank, in a report that paves the way for changes to Treasury rules.

The Guardian

In a well-timed pre-budget report intervention this week, a report from the centre right thinktank Onward proposes a series of areas and goals on which Mr Sunak could concentrate.

Unlocking the potential of younger people and workers across Britain
Making it easier to start and support a family
A practical policy programme to transform science and innovation in the UK
Unlocking the potential of younger people and workers across Britain
Making it easier to start and support a family
A practical policy programme to transform science and innovation in the UK