By Danielle Jefferies

When the Labour government founded the NHS in 1948, a new type of social contract was established between the public and the state.

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We would contribute through taxation, and in return we would receive health care when we need it, free at the point of use.

Nearly 80 years later, that contract still commands remarkable support. But new analysis from The King’s Fund and Ipsos suggests that while younger people remain firmly committed to the NHS’s founding principles, their support for funding it through taxation is weakening.

Policymakers should pay attention.

Not because Gen Z is turning its back on the NHS, nor because it wants a fundamentally different model. Rather, the findings highlight a growing disconnect between the health service people want and what they are willing, or perhaps able, to pay for.

Polling by Ipsos and the Health Foundation found that four in five Gen Z respondents say the NHS is a vital institution that must be preserved. The British Social Attitudes Survey, conducted by NatCen and analysed jointly by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust, also shows strong support for its founding principles.

But our new research shows attitudes look different........

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