Welcome to IF’s first newsletter in 2013

In just over a year IF has gained a reputation for producing non-party-political, high-quality, robust analysis of how current government policy is disadvantaging our young people today.
We’ve worked hard to get this far, and see 2013 as a year of consolidation, growth and action in key hotspots where we believe government policy needs to change.

Are You Young, Gifted and Broke?

Telling the story of young people’s plight is central to our work, so we’ve teamed up with the Guardian, the NUS and Island Pictures to run a 3-minute film competition called ‘Young, Gifted and Broke!’
Are you aged under 30? Have you jumped through the educational hoops set for you and now find yourself saddled with student debt, high rents and low-paid work or unpaid work experience? Enter our short film and you could win £1,000 cash and two weeks’ work experience at the Guardian or Island Pictures.
Details of the film competition can be found here.

There is still plenty of time to enter before the deadline of 27 March 2013.

Housing

Housing continues to be a top IF concern. Our national housing shortage has affected prices and is trapping increasing numbers of young people in long-term renting.

With average rents peaking at just under £1,000 a month in some areas, raising the smallest deposit for a first-time mortgage is estimated to take up to 8 years.

This means the average age of a first-time buyer without family capital is approximately 37, which prevents couples and young families from putting down roots and investing time and resources in their local community.

IF’s answer is Build, Build, Build! Whilst well-meaning voters may see protecting their immediate local environment as a legacy to future generations, this is usually more self-serving (protecting their own housing assets) than altruistic. 

More than 100,000 new homes are needed urgently if families are to thrive.

How You Can Help

Make your voice heard. Vote for new building at community planning meetings, write to your local MP and demand more homes for young people. More housing means more competition, more housing means lower rents, more housing means lower prices.

An Intergenerational Workplace Charter

IF is keen to work with companies that are interested in introducing intergenerational fairness into the workplace.  We are currently drafting an Intergenerational Workplace Charter to ensure that workers of all ages are treated fairly.

Contact liz@if.org.uk if you’d like to hear more about how protecting the needs of younger workers would improve internal relations within your company.

Better Regulation of Student Loan Rates

From September 2012 students could be paying up to £9,000 a year in tuition fees alone. Add to that living expenses such as rent, food, books and travel, and the average student graduate debt after three years is set to exceed £40,000.
Historically the Student Loan Company was exempted from the Consumer Credit Act 1974, specifically because the loans they offered were classed as ‘low-cost’. Now that it is charging close to commercial rates of interest (6.6% this year), IF believes the Student Loan Company should be regulated in the same way as any other commercial loan company.
Are you a barrister, public-interest lawyer or legal eagle who would be willing to help IF investigate the legality of the Student Loan Company’s exemption from the Consumer Credit Act? If so please email liz@if.org.uk.

Research Update

Do keep an eye on our Research tab to see IF’s latest research.
Our latest study entitled Spending Across The Generations dispels the myth that younger generations are frittering away their cash on meals out, holidays and cinema. According to IF analysis of the ONS Family Spending Survey, between 2000 and 2011 the over-50s were spending twice as much as the under-30s on cinema and theatre, £1.3 billion more on foreign travel (whilst the under-30s were spending £922 million less) and spent 33% more on eating out (whilst under-30s were spending 18% less).
Meanwhile, gross pensioner income grew by an estimated 50% in real terms between 1994/5 and 2010/11 and, according to IF research into pensioner wealth, the UK now has nearly 1 million pensioners (aged 65 years plus) living in households with assets worth over £1 million.  They surely do not need universal benefits.

How The Localism Act Hands Power to Older Generations was also published earlier in 2012. The report concluded that age, wealth and attitudes to planning, may be conspiring to prevent the building of badly needed new homes in many parts of the UK.

Finally our Aviation report entitled Flying In The Face of Fairness blew the lid on the £10 billion annual subsidy given to the UK's aviation industry. IF calls for the subsidy to be withdrawn and for prices to better reflect the true cost emissions.

A Helping Hand

Are you are a parent or grandparent worried about the prospects for your children and grandchildren?  Would you help us to call for benefits and resources to be more fairly spread across the generations? If the answers are yes, and you’d be willing to go on the record, please email liz@if.org.uk.

Votes@16

IF has been actively supporting the work of Votes@16 in preparation for this week’s parliamentary debate on reducing the voting age.

Why is this important? With an ageing demographic and increasing longevity, more voters are over the age of 50.

To ensure the voice of the next generation is not lost, we not only need more young people to vote but more young people to be eligible to vote. Reducing the voting age to school age will also improve political engagement among the young.

Easter Work Experience

Are you in full-time education looking for work experience over the Easter holidays? If so, then do consider a placement with IF.
We can help you to gain a valuable insight into the think tank world, and provide you with excellent experience and references for your CV.
Our placement runs from 1_30 April 2013 and in exchange for your commitment during that period, you will be mentored, go to meetings with senior policy-makers and learn how to get big wins from small budgets.