The crisis and the evolution of labour relations in the United Kingdom

The author of this report is Lewis Emery, researcher at the Labour Research Department (UK).

The report describes the socio-economic situation in the United Kingdom after the ‘credit crunch’ and the ‘Great Recession’ of 2008-09. Its focus is on social protection and living and working conditions, the social and labour measures taken, their effects and in particular the evolution of labour relations. It therefore concentrates on the social partners, the environment in which they operate, and the role of central government – recognising that the relationship between the social partners and government can be as influential, sometimes more so, as their relationship with each other. It starts with how things stood just before the crisis, in 2007, before going on to review what happened.