to not be surprised that 1/3 of young people are in poverty and they are the poorest people in society

[fruitloop13]

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-young-arethe-new-poor-sharp-increase-in-the-number-of-under25s-living-in-poverty-while-over65s-are-better-off-than-ever-9878722.html

Can't say I'm surprised at all. This isn't going to end well.

Just isn't right that they have the lowest income but are likely to have high outgoings.

I'd like to see a rebalance of the tax system to be much fairer (Ni), only give pensioner benefits to the poor pensioners with pension credit, change state pension age to life expectancy -5 years and stop the interference in the housing market so that it crashes to free market values. Anyone else agree?

Christ! £735 was the rent on our last 3 bed house, out in the sticks.

There don't seem to be any - though I suspect the 'Room to Let' is a bedsit under another name... off to have a look...

£67 - £100 per week it seems. And there is loads of it, private, council managed, rooms, double, en suites, all inclusive... they look much nicer than any I lived in. Would that be about 50% of full time NMW? Then that's the same as I used to pay, 30+ years ago.

Yes room to let = bedsit / lodger.

Starting at £500pcm around here. I think that nmw for 18-20yo comes in at 778 pcm but that's got no deductions they won't pay tax but will pay NI I think? not sure how much that is. So you'd need bills + food transport + any uniform etc etc so tight but doable depends on how much the NI is really.

I think they'd pay NI at 12%? So that's 157 per week or 684 pcm.

depends where you live really how far it will stretch and transport costs can be large.

My maths may be wrong of course and I don't know if people on nat min are entitled to any help if they don't have dependents etc

I really ought to read the article I guess! I'm not surprised if young people are skint though the job market sounds horrendous.

Wow this part is sad:

"Many are also effectively trapped in low-paid work, with only 20 per cent of employees having left that income bracket after a decade in employment. The average self-employed person now earns 13 per cent less than they did five years ago."

That sounds about right to me. I walked 4 miles to work, couldn't afford the bus, saved up for a very 2nd hand pushbike. Bedsits tend to be fairly central so I imagine my scenario is rare (work was out of town). £20 for food each week and everything else must wait.

What else does a 17 year old do when they first leave home? I avoided starvation with jacobs crackers, jam and peanut butter. I put a bit of a social life slightly higher than nice food... again, what else would you do at that age?

That's why I only ever saved pennies at that age!

YANBU

i fear for my dcs when they are older, i hope and pray it improves

i hope that because of how shit it is it will make more under 30s vote as that is the only way things will improve

I really don't understand the on here about baby boomers having things easy. They did, or at least the ones I know did. Mil (who uses her fuel money towards plane fare for an annual exotic holiday) always goes on about having nothing when they were young, but by then contraception was freely available and she chose to have a baby at 23 rather than being financially secure first (not saying anything wrong with that, but was a choice for them to make). My own parents are less well off but still are comfortable and live in a big house.

But it isnt just baby boomers.Personally I had it easy too, by 25 had had own house a couple of years and dh and I had joint salaries of about 55k. We were financially pretty secure by the time I had my first child at 31.

These days with house prices/ deposit expectations/ job market its so much harder to get started. Achieving any level of financial security before a much older age, while trying to save for a 30k+ deposit and paying extortionate rent is impossible. Well unless you have rich parents who help out (this never arose for us as we didn't need help).

I wonder if older people (those 35+ I mean) Just don't like to be told it's harder now. And it is, it really is.

God knows what the solution is though.

I understood that bedsits had been rebadged as studio flats.

Good for you, hun.

But some have already explained why the stereotype doesn't fit... and so is only fuelling an unecessary divide. 1 MIL does not a generation make!

And I'll say it again, I am not, my parents are, and they are not in any way wealthy, comfortably off. But as they were working class boomers that may have made a difference.

I really don't think it is harder these days, it is just very different. There is a higher standard of living and expectations are raised. There has been financial difficulty for every generation, the shape it comes in differs, the time of life it hits also differs.

Blaming or disliking boomers is ridiculous. Instead blame the politics and get voting for whatever you deem to be more fair. As your parents and grandparents did before you!

Yes! Those very people who you are now vilifying... they worked hard for your rights! Now it is your turn to work for whatever you deem to be important.

Piss or get off the pot, as they say! Just stop moaning!

I disagree. It is harder, forget the baby boomers it was much easier for people my age and I'm 37.

17 yo get less NML, you'd be looking at £505 pcm = 116 per week and if you're on an apprenticeship less again their nmw is £2.73 per hour.

pipbin studio is different that's generally got a kitchenette and toilet/shower rather than having those shared so is a different thing entirely. Bedsit is a room with shared facilities.

37! So, tobysmum, you were 18 in the mid 90s, that era of boom and bust. Had parents who rode out the 80s, as they were established enough to have kids. As I said, different squeezes for different age groups.

You are not the only other age group though and many others have different experiences.

1 37 year old does not a generation make, either! You are missing the point - and your financial crisis may well be once you are retired. Who knows?

I do think it's harder for young people now. I have a teenage son and a nephew and niece and I see what they're facing and really fear for them. But I absolutely despair when I hear people turning on pensioners (or immigrants). It feels there's a bloody great banquet going on right over our heads and we're under the table, fighting each other for scraps.

These threads always go the same way, too.

It's a bit shit for young people these days.

No, it's not. It was worse when I was young, the interest rate was 20000000 %. And my parents had to shovel manure to get to school. But they never complained. They just put up and shut up. So everyone else should, too.

My point was that if we are means testing benefits than why not SMP too? MA is already in place for those that definitely require help?

There are many sectors that could be means tested to cut costs and help the young people.

I'm not advocating any of it.

The op has only suggested penalising the old to help the young, no one else.

Well ok but the original suggestion was to means test maternity leave which is a different ball game entirely and would have far reaching consequences.

Even means testing maternity pay would possibly bring unintended consequences but is less harsh certainly.

The Hoff does not approve.

Yes, I put leave instead of pay, I hadn't realised. Tbf I was still in shock from the unwarranted hunning.

Me? I didn't 'hun' you!

I deliberately hunned A N Other for being a tad "Alright Jack".

I carefully aim my huns, I do!

Means testing maternity leave would be a wet dream for financially abusive partners. A very bad idea.

No nomama, not you . I'm referring to the sound hunning the op gave me, whilst calling me stupid.

Ah! Now that was a good example of erroneous hunning!