Young people should get universal minimum inheritance of £10,000 - think tank

A minimum inheritance of £10,000 should be available for 25-year-olds in the UK, a think tank has suggested.

Tax reforms and a sell-off of some assets including the Government stake in RBS could help create a Citizens' Wealth Fund, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said.

The fund could be worth £186 billion by 2029/30, if started from 2020/21, a report by the left-of-centre think tank's Commission on Economic Justice concluded.

The proposal could help address what the think tank described as growing inequality in the UK, "giving everyone a stake and a say in the economy".

The multi-billion pound fund would be capitalised using a mix of asset sales, capital transfers, new revenue streams, a small amount of borrowing and returns reinvested through the decade, the report said.

The one-off payment could be made to people born outside the UK who have had citizenship for a certain length of time as well as UK-born citizens, it was suggested, but this approach would require a larger fund.

The think tank proposed the fund should be managed independently but held accountable by Parliament which could set any ethical obligations and an investment mandate.

Carys Roberts, IPPR senior economist said: "Who owns wealth and who will inherit wealth is becoming more important - increasingly so as the share of national income paid to people through wages declines.

"A Citizens' Wealth Fund would enable citizens to collectively own a portion of our national wealth, and make sure everyone benefits from rising returns to capital, not just people who will inherit or who already own assets."