Blowing the budget: Why the young have to spend more than the old on essentials

This report investigates spending power across the generations and finds that under-30s’ households: Have to dedicate the higher proportion of their total weekly expenditure to essentials Essential items take up 70% of their budget – a 16% increase compared to 2002/3 The bottom quintile of under-30s have on average have to dedicate 77% of their… Read more »

Locked out: Intergenerational unfairness in the housing market

This June 2024 report, kindly supported by the Land, Planning and Development Federation (LPDF), analyses local authority areas (LAs) by age and finds that the housing crisis is greatest in those areas where more young people live. The report calls on political candidates in the General Election to pledge to deliver new housing for their… Read more »

IF General Election Manifesto 2024

With a General Election around the corner, IF has drilled down into the key policy asks required to improve intergenerational fairness on behalf of younger and future generation: Housing Taxation Environmental Student finance Children and young people’s spending And how to ensure that younger and future generations’ interests are included in policy with intergenerational impact… Read more »

Tax wealth to help the young: The intergenerational fairness case for a wealth tax

Why do political parties shy away from taxing wealth in the UK when, according to this report, at least £18 billion could be raised each year if governments introduced a moderate wealth tax that would affect just 1% of the population? Where taxes come from is increasingly an intergenerational fairness issue. This research demonstrates that… Read more »

Play fair: Equalising the taxation of earned and unearned income

This report explains how the government could more fairly tax earned and unearned income: The current UK tax regime strongly favours unearned income over earned income. This has led to a tax system that is both unfair and inefficient. It also means that the young and those people who receive their income from employment pay… Read more »

Downsize your energy bills: Moving to a smaller home cuts energy bills

This report analyses house type, age, under-occupation and energy consumption and compares different downsizing scenarios and energy costs in order to help older generations to appreciate the energy savings they could make from downsizing. Key findings: Downsizing from larger to smaller homes in England could save 8 million homeowners up to £5,000 a year in… Read more »

Trains over planes: Why the government should encourage domestic train travel

This report argues that, on intergenerational justice grounds, the British government should be following France’s lead over banning domestic flights with a rail equivalent journey of 4.5 hours or less, by encouraging greater domestic train travel rather than air travel on mainland Britain. Key findings: Travel by train is seven times more environmentally friendly than… Read more »