The prospects for young Britons have deteriorated sharply since the Tories entered government in 2010 as money and resources have been targeted at the older generation, according to a devastating new report by economists.
The latest findings of the Intergenerational Foundation, highlight a sharply widening gap on its “fairness index” between people under 30 and those over 60.
The report illustrates how the younger generation is increasingly paying the price for supporting those already in, or approaching, older age as the cost of funding their pensions and healthcare rises.
Since 2010, the report shows, there has been a 10% decline in young people’s prospects across a range of measures including housing, education, health, income and debt. It comes amid a growing backlash from young people against George Osborne’s budget last week in which he announced welfare cuts that will hit many young families, ended automatic entitlement to housing benefit for those aged 18 to 21, and replaced maintenance grants for students with a loan system. Osborne also unveiled plans for a new “national living wage” that will rise to £9 an hour by 2020, giving millions of people a pay rise. But it will not apply to those under 25.
Young people who tried to climb the ladder out of poverty found there was no route to do so. “In Britain in 2015, for far too many households, work has ceased to be the escape route from poverty.”
The report shows a worrying picture of a society that is piling debt on young people while denying them educational opportunities and the prospect of buying their own homes. It will show that levels of spending on education as a proportion of GDP have fallen steadily since 2010, from 5.95% to 5.28%, while levels of participation in higher education have also declined. Read more
