By freezing the personal allowance threshold after April 2021 until 2026, more younger people on the lowest earnings rungs will be penalised - a disincentive to save, when you know any pay rise you get might simply mean paying more tax.
Moreover, by not extending the discount on the Lifetime Isa withdrawal penalty - which dropped from 25 per cent last year to 20 per cent - this also presents a psychological barrier to young people who are serious about saving, but who also need to live.
Last year, financial education charity MyBnk crunched the data on 3,700 11-25 year olds taking part in their money programmes, in-and-out of schools, over a year.
It found high levels of stress, depression and anxiety over money, with females citing higher levels of anxiety than males.
After expert-led lessons with 16-25 year olds, MyBnk found a 48 per cent increase in regular saving and a 40 per cent decrease in owing money for women, with a 29 per cent rise in saving and 31 per cent drop in debt for men.
If that sort of success is to be replicated in 2021 and beyond, the government needs to do more to boost savings incentives for young people, not put up additional hurdles.
If today's Gen Z are to be tomorrow's leaders, they need to be enabled to thrive. This Budget has failed them.
Simoney Kyriakou is senior editor at FTAdviser
