Monday’s Work and Pensions Committee session on intergenerational fairness further ignited the debate about the hardships facing today’s younger generation. Views from witnesses, including Paul Johnson of the IFS, Shiv Malik of the Guardian and Philip Booth of the IEA, did little to dispel the perception that as far as the intergenerational fairness debate goes, the older generation are winning hands down.
Today’s pampered pensioners currently enjoy a raft of benefits including non-means tested fuel allowance and a triple-lock protection on their state pension. This ensures their state pension rises every year by the highest of price inflation, earnings growth or 2.5% and has been described by experts as both arbitrary and unsustainable. In fact, work carried out by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation for the Guardian (cited in the session) found that those aged 25-29 were worse off than 10 years ago, whereas those aged 65-69 were £5,500 better off.
Today’s young people have been disproportionately hit by the financial crisis and continue to struggle.
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