Young people feeling a forgotten generation

[Class 317]

I was listening to the today show on 5 live the other day and they were talking about how Gen Z and young people in general feel forgotten by society and left behind.

I'm particular the young people interviewed mentioned housing and the difficulties getting on the ladder, benefits for older generations rising faster than younger generations, declining living standards and the difficulties in finding meaningful employment.

How do you think the UK economy, politics and society should change to help solve this issue?

 

[cb a1]

I'm not trying to make light of this, but in a similar way to Socrates complaining about how the next generation don't respect their elders, I wonder if it has always been thus?

I'm in my mid-50s now, but when I came out of education in the late 80's, there were few permanent jobs (in the north of England anyway), the housing ladder looked impossible to get on (house prices nearly doubled in that decade), interest rates were eye-watering (mortgage rates >10%). Despite having a degree, I was only a small step up from couch-surfing and I spent 3 years going from temporary job to temporary job.

To be clear, this is not a situation that I would wish on anyone. This is where resentment breeds and radicalisation can sow its seeds. Looking over on the threads on Farage and Trump, you can see how the populist rhetoric of simple solutions to complex problems is very attractive to those who feel left behind.

 

[Egg Centric]

I'm not trying to make light of this, but in a similar way to Socrates complaining about how the next generation don't respect their elders, I wonder if it has always been thus?

I don't think so, although there have been temporary periods of it. The housing crisis is grave and not improving. While I'm personally in a good situation with housing, more than half my same age (38) friends are still renting and some are not even thinking about getting on the housing ladder. Which also means they're not having children. Which means demographically we have no real choice but to increase the number of younger immigrants coming in otherwise the country will skew too old. Which makes the crisis even worse...

The only solution is build build build.

It's interesting you use the Socrates example about insolent youth as well by the way. As I think millennials were/are the first generation in history where the older generations were/are complaining they're too milquetoast/clean living! Seems like Zoomers might be being a bit more edgier again (thank goodness) but also radicalised and odd (not so good) by the internet. Not sure happens next but I don't think anything good.

 

[Vexed]

I'm currently in my first year at uni.

The Times has been doing some reporting on this as well over the last week, which has been interesting to read - some of they say my generation thinks I agree with and some of it I don't get at all!

I think money is quite a large part of the pessimism, getting on the housing ladder has been mentioned and supporting older people living longer, where will that money come from in the future? Will I be, say, taxed highly when I'm 40?

I look at my degree, Civil Engineering, with reasonably good job prospects but at the same time I'm going to be walking out of University with about £85k in student debt (4 years of £9.2k tuition + maintenance loan £10.5k, both of which are going up in 2025 and probably beyond). It's a harrowing number to think about, but of course the way the system is set up here makes it not a huge issue if I don't make enough to pay it off - it'll get written off in 2068 when I'm 62 (!).

Long term I am concerned about housing, house prices are rising so fast compared with wages over the last 20-30 years. The only way I can get a deposit for a house would be to save while renting (save what money? Depends on getting a good job), or live with parents.

How do you think the UK economy, politics and society should change to help solve this issue?

I'm broadly in the status quo camp here, or at least compared to others in my generation.

Gen Z doubts about democracy laid bare in ‘worrying’ survey

More than half believe the UK should be a dictatorship and there’s a stark gender divide over equality, research for Channel 4 shows

www.thetimes.com

Fifty-two per cent of Gen Z — people aged between 13 and 27 — said they thought “the UK would be a better place if a strong leader was in charge who does not have to bother with parliament and elections”.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the quote above. It's essentially a dictatorship, and while there are some successful ones in history they usually don't last long as the dictator becomes complacent and quality of life declines compared to other countries. It's too risky a path, democracy is the least worst choice of governance (even taking into account the events in the USA. Reform would be welcome though, such as a more defined constitution-like document to try and make safeguards more "set in stone" and clear, unlike the web of different statures, common law / case law, and convention keeping politicians in check. You just need to look at the states to see why.

I'm not particularly surprised at how many people did agree with the above quote, as education about politics isn't where it should be so people maybe don't know as much about the downsides.

I don't really have many big ideas - it seems to be very difficult to do anything substantial as both debt and taxes are already on the high side yet we don't seem to be getting much from it.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I'm not trying to make light of this, but in a similar way to Socrates complaining about how the next generation don't respect their elders, I wonder if it has always been thus?

In general, yes, but about this specific issue? No.

Pension age is going up whilst life expectancy is going down.

Pension contributions are going up whilst pension payments in retirement are going down.

House prices are going up whilst mortgage lenders are taking an increasingly aggressive line on their affordability checks.

Rental prices are going up whilst security of tenure is a thing of the past.

And then you look at who the media tell us we should feel sorry for. The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign group are complaining about not being able to retire at 60 when people my age (late Get X/early Millennial) won't get to retire until at least 68, and probably later. Pensioners are complaining about potentially losing the 'triple lock' when those of us who are in work haven't had a cost-of-living increase that matches inflation for God knows how many years.

And then the same media try and tell young people that they're just lazy and that they should just work harder.

You look at just how unequal British society has become and, to be quite frank, my only shock is that more people aren't 'radicalised'!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Feb 2025 ==

I'm not particularly surprised at how many people did agree with the above quote, as education about politics isn't where it should be so people maybe don't know as much about the downsides.

You see the Tories screw the little people and you see Labour come in and carry on screwing the little people. I seriously think we are reaching a point where a lot of people look at some of the absolute whoppers that democracy has given us as leaders over the last 40 years and think "hey, how can a dictatorship be any worse?"

 

[swaldman]

Two points worth considering in this:

1. Statistically, at this point, a working-age person in work is more likely to be in poverty than a pensioner. By quite a wide margin, if memory serves.

2. The housing crisis is a wicked problem, because successive govenrments have gotten themselves into a position where the only way for one half of the population to ever afford a home is a drop in house prices which would be ruinous to the ~15-20% of the population who have mortgages, and would be *perceived* as ruinous by the larger, mostly over-65, contingenet who own their houses outright. Hence actually solving the problem at scale would be electoral suicide.

 

[Vexed]

You see the Tories screw the little people and you see Labour come in and carry on screwing the little people. I seriously think we are reaching a point where a lot of people look at some of the absolute whoppers that democracy has given us as leaders over the last 40 years and think "hey, how can a dictatorship be any worse?"

Yep, democracy hasn't been great recently. It's something I think about every now and again but I think the alternative will be worse (even if not by much...). I totally see where those people are coming from but I'm not prepared to accept the risks.

 

[ChrisC]

The generation who are now aged in their 60’s, and are now approaching retirement or have very recently retired, did not have it at all easy when they were the age of the current Gen Z.

Just to use my own example. When I completed my time at Teacher Training College in 1978 there was a serious shortage of teaching jobs, especially in Primary School education. Most jobs in those days were advertised in The Times Educational Supplement, and each week there were only a handful of jobs available and thousands of newly qualifying teachers were all applying for these few jobs. Schools were getting hundreds of applications for each job advertised. I left college without a job but fortunately during the summer holiday a local headteacher who I knew offered me a job. The large majority of the people I trained with never got a teaching job and went into other careers.

I was one of the few who managed to get a teaching job, but the salary of a newly qualified teacher was very low and I had to live with my parents. Interest rates at the time I began working as a teacher soared to 17% and remained well above 10% for the next 12 years which completely ruled out buying a house at the time. It must be hard for today’s young people imagine interest rates above 10% for all those years especially at the peak of 17%, but we had this.

I don’t mind admitting that after working hard throughout my life, being sensible with my money, and saving for retirement, I am now quite comfortably well off. I consider myself fortunate but I’ve had to work for it and things were not easy when I was in my 20’s. I understand how many young people now feel and I do worry for them. In some ways I understand how they feel about pensioners who are now quite wealthy, but some of us did have it hard in our younger days but have worked hard for a comfortable retirement. I’m certainly not complaining about the removal of the winter fuel allowance because it was something I did not need. There are, however, many less well off pensioners who do need it.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The housing crisis is a wicked problem, because successive govenrments have gotten themselves into a position where the only way for one half of the population to ever afford a home is a drop in house prices which would be ruinous to the ~15-20% of the population who have mortgages

I think the solution is to build more social housing that is not available for sale on the open market.

Most people want to own their own home because it gives them security of tenure: so long as you pay your mortgage, you're fine. In privately rented accommodation this isn't the case, your landlord can force you out with two months' notice.

Social housing still has that security of tenure.

And, if the housing cannot be purchased, you avoid a glut of new homes on the market which would drive down purchase prices. You can then add just enough new homes for purchase into the market to ensure that prices stop rising and prices flatline and, in time, inflation will do the rest.

I totally see where those people are coming from but I'm not prepared to accept the risks.

I totally agree. But we're in dangerous times. Faith in politicians is at all-time low, turnout in the last election was the second lowest since universal suffrage came in, and our current government got a landslide based on a vote share of just one third of all votes cast.

If one thinks all politicians are equally bad- I don't think they are, but Starmer's trying his best to prove otherwise- then we can see why people will wonder what difference a dictatorship would make to their lives. I think the answer to that is "more than they realise, and not in a good way". But you can see where people are coming from.

 

[bleeder4]

The issue with the housing crisis is cost rather than supply I think. I routinely check my own postcode on Rightmove and, for many years, all the properties on there were 3/4 for rent and 1/4 for sale. In the second half of last year this dramatically shifted to being 3/4 for sale and 1/4 for rent. I think all the new rules for landlords introduced last year have caused loads of them to sell up, flooding the market with properties to buy (but conversely reducing the rental market).

 

[Harpo]

.

 

[Sorcerer]

As a late Millennial or early Gen Z (I'm not quite sure since the unclear boundaries overlap my birth year) with aspirations, I think that I would probably be considered among the target audience of people like Andrew Tate or a potential target demographic for parties like Reform. Now I am fortunate to have been given more positive role models which has kept me from being drawn into these circles, but nevertheless I am starting to find the UK an increasingly more undesirable place to live (a first world privilege I know) and I have never considered the idea of leaving the country long-term until recently.

To put it bluntly, the social contracts between society have practically collapsed. We go to work every day for relatively poor wages, spend an increasing amount on shopping and other everyday goods and services with what's left of our wages after we pay the highest tax burden since the Second World War, with some people left barely managing to get by or even stuck relying on food banks due to a cost of living crisis. In return what do we we get? Increasingly worse public services such as an overstrained NHS (a so-called envy of the world), expensive yet unreliable transport infrastructure, and apparently still no money for investment or any hope of things actually improving.

Meanwhile our politicians don't inspire any hope that things will get better and are more interested in blaming each other for the bad decisions they make along with an increasing amount of engaging in culture and class war nonsense, so for anyone whose only known our democracy as it is you can't exactly blame this generation for thinking it's an ineffective form of government. That is of course assuming they can be politically engaged thanks to not having their phones stolen by a moped gang or mugger, or too busy being treated for stab wounds because of yet another knife crime incident that the police and prison services are increasingly unable to deal with.

So yeah, if I'm the least bit representative of my generation, I think there is very much an increasing sense of being left behind because of the way things are right now. When career prospects are getting worse, housing is becoming more of a scarce commodity, the cost of living is increasing, and the culture is becoming increasingly toxic, it's hard not to feel left behind as young person, especially when the same young people were asked to postpone some of their education and social life to protect the old during the pandemic and are arguably worse off for it.

 

[Broucek]

Some lovely thoughtul, posts on here. The one from @Sorcerer set me thinking about my own situation

I earn a lot more than most people, we own 80% of our home and we have savings. I pay a lot of tax and rightly so. But it feels like public services are getting worse and everything I buy is FAR more expensive than pre-pandemic

On one level, that's a "world's smallest violin" issue. But if even those of us who are relatively well off feel like things are getting worse then it's no wonder people with low wages, student debt and large rent paymets are struggling as they look to the future.

 

[AlterEgo]

Some lovely thoughtul, posts on here. The one from @Sorcerer set me thinking about my own situation

I earn a lot more than most people, we own 80% of our home and we have savings. I pay a lot of tax and rightly so. But it feels like public services are getting worse and everything I buy is FAR more expensive than pre-pandemic

On one level, that's a "world's smallest violin" issue. But if even those of us who are relatively well off feel like things are getting worse then it's no wonder people with low wages, student debt and large rent paymets are struggling as they look to the future.

My wife and I are fortunate. We just moved into a big new house with a small mortgage, we both have good jobs which pay well and which we enjoy, and we enjoy a high standard of living.

My concern is that's all fine in the confines of the home, but the state of society bothers me. It is not okay that my generation (millennials) are worse off than our parents' generation, with Zoomers further behind even still. Society is in decline and people in general have a declining standard of living. It impacts me because, well, I live not just in my house, but in society - that's sort of my home too - and we see and feel the consequences of inequality.

Inequality is stunting our growth as an economy and a society, and it results in increases in crime, political instability, and resentment. That's why I vote to pay more tax and I vote for reduced planning oversight and more local development even as a property owner.

 

[Yew]

Society is in decline and people in general have a declining standard of living.

What concerns me is the sheer amount of wealth that is conncentrated in the hands of a few very rich individuals (and to some extent, large organisations such as corporations and private equity funds that only care about the bottom-line). It is at a high that has not been seen for a long time, and make the "robber baron" industrialists o the 19th century look positively modest in comparison.

 

[Foxhunter]

I cannot believe I'm here, first venture into General Discussion, but a topic I am passionate about.

I'm now north of 70, and I have seen a lot of life. But I have never encountered parents who didn't do their best for their children, want them to have a better life than they had, and make sacrifices to achieve that. During my career there must have been colleagues who didn't want to pass on knowledge, or answer if asked to advise, but I don't remember any.

I do think there is distortion in the media (all forms), always remember they are there to attract eyeballs, not to inform. But I fear that today's young don't have the opportunities I was afforded. I'm no academic, but I think that among the route causes are lack of economic growth per capita, which on some measures has been stagnant for 20 years - a whole generation has grown up not knowing what it is like to benefit from a growing economy.

Another factor is the population growth putting unsustainable pressure on housing, leading to ludicrous rent costs and house prices. (Current projection is broadly a 5 million increase over a decade. Simplistically we need to build a city the size of Sheffield every year if we don't want to put more pressure on the existing housing stock. This seems unlikely to me.)

But I am a believer in the wisdom of crowds. I do hope that some of the straws blowing in the current winds may be a turning point to cause politicians to reflect on and address their failure.

And I also hope I don't regret posting this.

 

[Broucek]

What concerns me is the sheer amount of wealth that is conncentrated in the hands of a few very rich individuals (and to some extent, large organisations such as corporations and private equity funds that only care about the bottom-line). It is at a high that has not been seen for a long time, and make the "robber baron" industrialists o the 19th century look positively modest in comparison.

I appreciate this is hyperbole and I share your concern as to whether companies, particularly PE-backed ones, are squeezing the workforce too hard. But we shouldn't forget that working conditions have improved imeasurably over the last 100 years - sick pay, parental leave, anti-discrimination laws, protection against unfair dismissal, improved HSE, life insurance benefits etc.. Some of these improvements have been driven by regulation but others are at least partly a factor of companies wanting to attract and engage an effective workforce.

 

[Purple Train]

Apologies for the "bump" - I was about to start a thread on this (after reading the conclusion of the Nigel Farage thread) but noticed this was still open. I hope this is the correct course of action, as opposed to starting a new thread!

The correct place to start would be at the beginning, but I'm not going to start there. I've noticed a lot in recent weeks that several posters on the politics threads have been concerned that young people are being hoodwinked by the far-right, and that they would be "one of the most right-wing generations in history". Like everything else, I suppose, it's considerably more nuanced than that. I attend an extracurricular course that generally focuses on history and politics, and I think it's quite telling that, of twelve politically-engaged sixth-formers, not one supports Trump or Farage. Perhaps that's not surprising, that in an incredibly diverse and multicultural area, their rhetoric is seen for what it is: divisive and inflammatory. The same sample group also skews socially liberal, so not necessarily left-wing, but I suppose it counts as such on the other side of the Big Pond.

That's anecdotal evidence I know, and I'm not going to use it to claim that my generation is more left-wing and liberal than all the generations before it. But what I think it does illustrate is that, even amongst a group of people who know their stuff, know their history, know their politics, know their world news, know their current affairs, there is still that fear. What kind of a future can I look forward to? What kind of a future can I look forward to, when the powers-that-be seem intent on polluting it into an uninhabitable space rock? What kind of a future can I look forward to, when my generation is constantly labelled as ungrateful, attention-seeking, more privileged than each predecessor in turn? What kind of a future can I look forward to in a world being used as a pawn by a few rich and powerful world leaders who won't live to see the consequences? And closer to home, can I afford to go to university? Will I ever be able to buy a house? Will I be able to afford children? How far will I have to move from my hometown in search of a place to be? Why does nobody in power care about the long-term future of the country - or even the world - I'll be inhabiting many years after they have passed to the next world?

Like Socrates and the insolent youth, to an extent 'twas ever thus. Politics has been a short-term business since before the invention of the ox and cart. (Anything to avoid another horse metaphor.) But this is the good side. These are the fears and concerns of people who culturally feel included. We may resent the short-term politics of those who won't have to bear the consequences, but we feel the country is being moulded in our cultural image to an extent. My sample isn't Eton College - "normal" people from a range of backgrounds that may be considered statistically normal for my area. We feel a forgotten generation, but not a forgotten people, if that makes any sort of sense.

The factor that provides most cause for concern is when the forgotten generation meets the forgotten people - swathes of working-class neighbourhoods across the country, particularly in the north. Overlooked for ages in favour of the cushy south-east, where its jobs are what the country prioritises, and it seems to lord it over a fiefdom of lone and level sands. The older generation who voted for Brexit, in the hope that it would restore their home that they poured years of blood, sweat and toil into, instead seen it ravaged by generations of rule by "foreign" Southern barons who've never been north of the Watford Gap, and utterly switched off by a "political elite" that is not like them in the slightest. Day after day, month after month. Year after year. Generation after generation. Like Waiting for Godot, nothing happens, only more than twice. The generational problems are multiplied regionally, and it only lets the disillusionment and "othering" fester.

They want something different. They don't particularly mind what. A change. A break. A say. Anything to break away from 40 years of purgatory. The mining town I grew up in still has scars deeper than the coal seams, and it got off lightly. Imagine multiplying this feeling by the added strength of it afforded by belonging to a generation that seems forgotten, and you suddenly get 52% of Generation Z in favour of dictatorship. And it's heart-wrenching - I might be known as Mr Cynical in my class, but I cannot imagine how helpless and hopeless it would feel, dulled and disappointed into feeling so apathetic bordering on contemptuous, being so horribly ignored, unrepresented, voiceless, almost on a personal level, and it makes me genuinely spit with rage how snake oil salesmen like Farage prey on this despair.

A forgotten generation, divided. A forgotten people, despairing. A divided generation, worrying. A divided people, straining.

"May you live in interesting times."

 

[muz379]

As a Millennial whilst I have managed to earn above average wages and get on the housing ladder I can absolutely understand why Gen Z feels left behind I think a lot of particularly later Millennials can identify with that as well . Housing particularly among young people is a real area of concern . And the often touted patronising response to stop drinking lattes just doesn't come close to addressing the issue . Then if you do get lucky and earn above average wages and therefore rightly so in my eyes pay higher rates of tax on proportions of your earnings you don't feel like you are getting good value for money from public services when you do try to access them , particularly not with the blatant transfer of wealth from state to select private individuals we saw with the last government .

I think even if they dont recognise it as such , inequality is in a lot of cases the big issue for people and traditional critiques of inequality have already been covered in this thread so I dont want to do another one of them .But one thing that does really trouble me with inequality is not just the concentration of wealth but also the increasing influence in peoples lives that billionaiires quite openly have . It has always been the case that wealthy people in this country have had influence , for example through nepotism ,lobbying or corruption of public officials . And not to excuse that , but with the control of social media and tech that billionairres now have , and the powerful processing of great rafts of data about peoples lives(a lot of it admittedly freely shared) they have a much more direct influence over the public in ways that they never previously did .

Another thing that does concern me is that a lot of Boomers and older Gen X'ers are now finding they have to work for more years than they planned in order to afford a retirement , and that will have an impact on the younger generations career progression , earnings and therefore then their own ability to put money away for retirement . Unless something breaks that cycle that is going to be a real problem for generation Alpha who might even struggle to find entry level work .

And then the same media try and tell young people that they're just lazy and that they should just work harder.

Not just the media , we had many members of the Tory class of 2010 write a book about how lazy British workers were

 

[Harpo]

I’d probably be called a ‘boomer’ and sympathise with the mess that my generation is leaving behind.

My generation has paid itself too well and worshipped at the altar of tax cuts without reflecting on how this is/has impacted on the nations services and infrastructure.

In particular, the Thatcher greed years stripped out social housing and presided over industrial decline.

The resultant mess is fertile ground for Farage and other blame-game snake oil salesmen.

 

[alex397]

Reading through these replies, it’s really refreshing to read balanced and thoughtful posts. So much of the vitriol I see online is so toxic and quite hateful about young people. Essentially stereotyping them as lazy, selfish and obsessed with being ‘woke’. The majority of young people I meet are hard working and enthusiastic, and are not exactly obsessed with ‘woke’ - they generally are just more accepting of other cultures and the LGBT+ community which certain people can’t accept. I don’t think most want to get involved in the ‘culture wars’. That’s not what the toxic media such as the Mail, Express etc and the propaganda on Facebook wants people to think though.

Maybe all the vitriol against young people in the media does contribute to the feeling of being left behind rather than supported.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I earn a lot more than most people, we own 80% of our home and we have savings. I pay a lot of tax and rightly so. But it feels like public services are getting worse and everything I buy is FAR more expensive than pre-pandemic

My wife and I are both also late Millennial (her)/early Gen Z (me). We have a household income of £120,000 a year. My wife inherited a house when her mum died and that house is rented out, so we also have a decent bottom line on top of the wages.

And yet that money doesn't actually go that far. Admittedly some of the cost of living here is higher (especially utilities), but then the higher rate of income tax here is also only 21%. But we don't have new cars, they're not on finance, our mortgage is fixed at 1.5%, we live in a semi (admittedly a 4-bed in a nice area). And still the money doesn't actually go that far.

I'm not about to plead poverty. I can turn the central heating on without worrying, I can buy what I want in Tesco without worrying. That's more than an awful lot of people. I've worked hard, as has my wife, but we're also very lucky.

But we do earn £120k a year between us. That should be "three foreign holidays a year at the pointy end of the plane" territory, not "turning the central heating on" territory.

 

[DarloRich]

I will simply say it IS possible to save and buy a house. I did it in an expensive area with no bank of mummy and daddy. So can you.

EDIT - that was 5 years ago so I acknowledge it will be harder today but I believe still possible.

 

[RT4038]

My wife and I are both also late Millennial (her)/early Gen Z (me). We have a household income of £120,000 a year. My wife inherited a house when her mum died and that house is rented out, so we also have a decent bottom line on top of the wages.

And yet that money doesn't actually go that far. Admittedly some of the cost of living here is higher (especially utilities), but then the higher rate of income tax here is also only 21%. But we don't have new cars, they're not on finance, our mortgage is fixed at 1.5%, we live in a semi (admittedly a 4-bed in a nice area). And still the money doesn't actually go that far.

I'm not about to plead poverty. I can turn the central heating on without worrying, I can buy what I want in Tesco without worrying. That's more than an awful lot of people. I've worked hard, as has my wife, but we're also very lucky.

But we do earn £120k a year between us. That should be "three foreign holidays a year at the pointy end of the plane" territory, not "turning the central heating on" territory.

Without knowing more precise details of your income and expenditure [which I'm not expecting you to publish !!!] , the size of the mortgage etc it is difficult to make objective comment. I am sure you could afford

"three foreign holidays a year at the pointy end of the plane"

if you wanted to (at the expense of tightening up somewhere else) if that was your priority. Your opinion of what your income should afford (and does to some of those on your salaries) may also point to how much others are relying on extended credit to enable that lifestyle, which you may not be?

 

[WelshBluebird]

I will simply say it IS possible to save and buy a house. I did it in an expensive area with no bank of mummy and daddy. So can you.

EDIT - that was 5 years ago so I acknowledge it will be harder today but I believe still possible.

For full transparancy, I am lucky to be in a similar boat. I'm 35 but thanks to being in tech I've been able to buy a house in a fairly expensive area, though it did need parental help for the deposit.

But it is worth saying quite a lot has happened in the last 5 years - namely interest rates are much much higher.

So my mortgage is about £500 a month more than what it would have been on some of the lowest interest rates that were previous available - and that is with my purchase being before interst rates increased further (my rate is 4.11%, not long after it would have been 5.x%).

That £500 a month extra makes a huge difference in what someone could afford.

There's also the element of where people are. Yes, technically lots more people could probably afford to buy, but for lots and lots of people that would involve moving far away from their job, their friends and family and any support systems. Is that really what we want to force people to do? Especially in lots of cases where that would leave elderly relatives reliant on the local authority for care rather than them being able to be looked after by family.

And that of course also ignores the millions of people on low paid zero hours contracts / gig economy work who have no chance of buying a house.

For a solid example of all the above - I'm in Bristol. The average wage in Bristol is signifantly below what I earn, and of course plenty of people earn a lot less than the average. I have no idea how Joe Bloggs who works is supposed to buy a house unless its in the pretty grim parts of the city, or much much further out (and even then that is pushing it for some people).

 

[Grimsby town]

One of my biggest gripes (excluding house prices) of my situation, an early 30 year old earning ~45k, is my student loans. I completely accept that I chose to do my degrees and I wouldn't change having gone to university. I also agree that those who go to university should pay to do so. I wouldn't say the current system is particularly fair though and does suppress disposable income among my generation.

In particular student loan interest is ridiculously high. Its currently over 4% on my undergraduate loan and over 7% on my Masters Loan. Interest on the undergraduate loan does increase with earning but I don't believe this a significant change. The master loan interest is a flat rate for everybody. That means that high earners could pay off a loan quickly and end up paying less than a middle income earner.

Currently I pay around £200 a month into my student loans and having borrowed £10k for my master degree and made payments for 6 years, I've managed to reduce what I owe down to...... 10.2k (having overpaid £500 this year). My undergraduate balance is growing exponentially. I pay 15% of my wage over 27k into a student loan. I definitely see myself as in a good financial position, so I'm not complaining but I really think interest rates on student loans should be reviewed. Reform are promising that as policy so that may attract a few from my generation.

 

[Harpo]

I really think interest rates on student loans should be reviewed. Reform are promising that as policy so that may attract a few from my generation.

Other brands of snake oil are available.

 

[Class 317]

Good points are being raised about student loans and really they should be on a very low interest rate to encourage students to study to a higher level without penalising them.

The top issues raised by the apprentices to me are Rent costs, House prices and the lower level of job opportunities/ security available now.

 

[Grimsby town]

Other brands of snake oil are available.

Indeed, I don't believe for a second they'd do it. It's being completely ignored by both main parties though. The payment terms have got even worse for people currently at uni. My loan gets written off after 30 years, it's now 40 years and you pay start paying that earning £25k rather than £27k.

 

[Vexed]

Indeed, I don't believe for a second they'd do it. It's being completely ignored by both main parties though. The payment terms have got even worse for people currently at uni. My loan gets written off after 30 years, it's now 40 years and you pay start paying that earning £25k rather than £27k.

However the interest on the new loans is just RPI, while in the old loans are up to RPI +3%.

I think many people will be worse off, unless you end up being a high earner so you'd pay it off (including interest) regardless of 30 or 40 year write off periods.