For the UK’s younger citizens, the social contract is under strain. The deal was once that, in return for working hard and paying taxes, the state offered a safety net and a pension, while the market provided rising living standards and a shot at property ownership. For Britons in their 20s and 30s, work and tax can be counted on, but the safety net, the pension and the house are increasingly uncertain. Many fear ending up worse off than their parents.

The Resolution Foundation’s Intergenerational Commission has studied the crisis and what can be done. Its findings are bleak. A majority of young Britons are pessimistic about making a comfortable living or having secure employment. Their wages have stagnated and opportunities for moving jobs are drying up. The commission’s report scotches the belittling myth that the young struggle because they are frittering money away on avocado toast.

The commission acknowledges that solving these problems is tougher than diagnosing them, but it makes some worthy recommendations. Abolishing inheritance tax and replacing it with a new tax that has lower rates and fewer exemptions could result in a fairer distribution of wealth across generations. The proposals for improving job and rental security — rights to regular hours on zero-hours contracts, stronger rights for the self-employed and standard three-year tenancies — would also ease millennial concerns.

Not all the suggestions are sensible: the notion of a £10,000 state bond for 25-year-olds, which would contribute towards a housing deposit or reducing student debt, is an unhelpful gimmick.

Social care is another concern for younger generations, who fear they will be bankrupted by either their parents’ old age, or their own. UK politicians have filed the long-term solution to the ageing population under “too hard to solve”. The Conservative party included half-baked proposals in its latest election manifesto for a new care system — albeit without a cap on costs — only to be forced into a U-turn.

The commission has two proposals for boosting the funds available for social care from within the generation who will need it first. First, an “NHS levy” on those of pensionable age, which would inject £2.3bn into the system. Second is a £2bn increase in public funding of social care through a new form of progressive property taxation. The final form of any such tax reform would have to be carefully planned, but one thing is not in doubt: more funding is part of any solution to the social care problem.

Two other important changes would give Britain’s young a boost. The UK’s housing stock is inadequate — there are not enough houses where the jobs are located. An extra quarter of a million homes must be built every year just to keep up with demand. The government’s reforms to the planning system are a start, but more urgent action is needed.

Next, the interest rates on government-backed student loans are too high. The current rate (RPI plus 3 per cent) is unreasonable, given the low cost at which the government can borrow. It should be reduced.

Intergenerational imbalances are the result, in part, of political pressures. Both the Conservative and Labour parties have favoured policies designed to win over older voters — the “triple lock” for state pensions, for example. This is down to the fact that older people were more likely to turn out on polling day. The surge in younger voters in last year’s general election challenged this dogma. If this turns into a pattern, MPs may turn policy in a different direction. If they do not, younger Britons must make their anger felt at the polls.

Letter in response to this editorial:

Big ideas are needed to fix intergenerational conflict / From Toby Hamblin

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