Planned teaching resources, activities and evidence packs for exploring economic questions.
Explore the economy together, one question at a time. Find activities for the classroom or a community learning group.
4 materials shown · 1 complete lesson, 3 previews
Work & pay · Cost of living
Compare two workers’ pay and everyday costs. Work out what changed, then discuss what the numbers can and can’t tell us.
Lesson outline, learner worksheet and teacher notes
Explore lessonPublic services & spending
Allocate a fictional town budget between a library, a park and better transport. Explain your choices and listen to other groups.
Full activity coming later
Wealth & inequality
Compare fictional households’ earnings, savings, homes and debts. Explore why an income figure only tells part of the story.
Full activity coming later
Cost of living
Investigate a chart of everyday prices. Assess three claims and identify the extra evidence you would need before drawing a conclusion.
Full activity coming later
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Lesson plan
Investigate how changes in pay and everyday costs affect what people have left to spend.
Work & pay · Cost of living
By the end, learners should be able to calculate a percentage change, explain why a pay rise might not improve spending power, and identify a limitation in a comparison.
You’ll need: the worksheet below, paper and a calculator. Learners should be familiar with percentages; allow extra time or work in pairs if needed.
Learner worksheet
Sam gets a 5% pay rise. Alex gets a 3% pay rise. Who do you think is better off than before: Sam, Alex, or not enough information?
Write down your choice and one reason. What would you want to know before deciding?
Sam and Alex work the same hours in both years. These invented monthly figures are for an exercise, not real wage or price data. Pay is take-home pay, after tax and other deductions. The cost basket covers only the essentials listed below.
| Monthly amount | Sam, year 1 | Sam, year 2 | Alex, year 1 | Alex, year 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take-home pay | 1,600 | 1,680 | 2,400 | 2,472 |
| Housing | 700 | 770 | 900 | 927 |
| Food | 200 | 220 | 250 | 275 |
| Energy | 100 | 120 | 120 | 144 |
| Transport | 100 | 110 | 150 | 150 |
Percentage change = (year 2 amount − year 1 amount) ÷ year 1 amount × 100
Extension: What year 2 take-home pay would Sam need to keep the same cash amount left after these essentials? Would that guarantee the same spending power for everything else?
Change the story
Choose one card per pair. Start from the original worksheet each time; do not combine cards. Everything else stays the same. Recalculate the money left after the listed essentials, compare it with year 1, and explain whether your conclusion changes.
Sam’s year 2 housing cost stays at £700, rather than rising to £770.
Does Sam now have more or less money left than in year 1?
Alex’s year 2 transport cost is £180 instead of £150.
How does this change Alex’s position compared with year 1?
Sam receives an extra £50 a month after deductions, on top of the year 2 take-home pay shown.
Is that enough to leave Sam with more money than in year 1?
Discuss: Which changed assumption mattered in your example? Does having more cash left guarantee more spending power for everything else?
Headline challenge
Using the original worksheet, write one headline that the figures support and one that could mislead a reader. Keep both plausible; the misleading one can use a true number while leaving out important context.
Our supported headline:
Our misleading headline:
Swap with another pair. Identify the misleading headline, explain what is missing, and rewrite it more fairly. Finish by revisiting your opening prediction: what evidence changed your mind?
Opening prediction: “Not enough information” is the best-supported answer. The pay percentages alone do not tell us how either worker’s costs changed. Treat other choices as starting ideas to investigate, rather than mistakes to penalise.
Supported example: “Both workers have less cash left after the listed essentials, despite pay rises.” Misleading example: “Sam gets 5% richer.” The latter confuses a rise in take-home pay with changes in wealth or spending power and leaves out the rising costs.
Accept different headlines when learners can explain their evidence and limitations. Keep conclusions tied to these fictional examples; they do not establish what happened to all workers.
This exercise compares take-home pay with two personal baskets. Their percentage increases are not an official inflation rate, and the cash left over is not a complete measure of real income or wellbeing. If introducing real wages, explain that they normally compare pay with a broad price index.
Support: give learners the basket totals and work through Sam’s pay percentage together. Stretch: ask why equal percentage pay rises can still produce different outcomes for households with different spending patterns.
Exit answer to look for: “A pay rise can leave someone worse off when their costs increase by more than their pay. We also need to know about their other expenses.”
Keep in the loop
Highlights from about the UK economy, the UK government and the UK public sector.
Thursday 5 November 2026
Inflation has risen to 3.1%, meaning everyday spending is getting more expensive just as household budgets are already under pressure.
Wednesday 4 November 2026
Interest rates are staying at 3.75%, so households with mortgages and other borrowing may have to wait longer for costs to come down.
Wednesday 4 November 2026
A higher energy price cap means many households will be paying more to heat and power their homes during the colder months.
Guides and insights
Clear, accessible analysis of the economic issues shaping everyday life
Living standards
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Food & prices
How farming, energy, transport and supermarket competition shape the price on the shelf.
Prices & inflation
What slower price rises mean for wages, purchasing power and economic recovery.
Shared prosperity
Beyond GDP: how we could measure economic success through security, opportunity and living standards.
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