Our volunteer Youth Ambassadors form an important part of our barometer on issues affecting young people. They share their personal experiences of the cost of living.
Recently we spoke to our Youth Ambassadors on the current cost of living issues and their answers were illuminating. It’s so easy to dismiss the concerns of young people and assume they are not doing things they should be. Clichés like ‘they spend all their money’ and ‘they don’t want to work hard’ need to be addressed as they are simply not true. Below are some of the key takeaways from our Youth Ambassador discussion held by Laura-Jane Rawlings.
The cost of living: Housing and young people
Ciara: ‘My friends and I started joking that the only way we are going to have a house of our own is if our parents leave us theirs in their will. The reality is it doesn’t feel like a joke anymore. It feels like the only way we will have one’.
Sophie: ‘I live in the north and it is cheaper, but it still seems like I will never afford a house. I have been saving for ten years and a mortgage still seems so far away. I don’t really track what I am saving but I just put away what I can’.
Jack: ‘I have got a house now but without my parents’ help I couldn’t have done it. I work really hard and enjoy what I do but I just couldn’t have got the deposit together without them’.
The cost of living: Increased living costs for young people
Ciara: ‘…the thing that is worrying me is I drive my car to work and petrol has gone up. I also am worried about something going wrong with it. You are taught to be careful and plan, put something away for potential issues but there just isn’t as much money to put away anymore and if something goes wrong I would suddenly be struggling to get to work’.
Alina: ‘I live at home at the minute, I live in London, and I have noticed lots has gone up. When you tally it up over the month it goes up – bus fares, train fares have all gone up and by the end of the month it has gone up a lot. I am working from home one day a week to shave some of this spending’.
Jack: ‘I am noticing the price rises around and you just have to shop around, it’s happening everywhere’.
The cost of living: Saving money and finances for young people
Ciara: ‘Saving for the future is really hard to do now. It feels like so many things are out of our control.’
Alina: ‘Wages have stagnated and cost of living drives costs so it’s so difficult to save anything’.
The cost of living: Key concerns for young people
Sophie: ‘It feels like a runaway train at the minute, you can’t really relax because you just don’t know what’s coming. I think young people need to know their own value more’.
Jack: ‘If we look at the essential things, we need to be able to function in this society. People need to afford things like heat and food and travelling to work. I think there are some perfectly good jobs, but they are paid the minimum wage and it impacts on the effort people put into their job.’
Want to volunteer as a Youth Ambassador and add your voice?
To become a voice in our Youth Ambassador Programme and help bring to light the issues and feelings of young people across the UK please visit our Youth Ambassador sign up page here.
