About us

The Fairness Foundation is a new project that works to change the debate around fairness in order to build a fairer society. We are a registered charity (number 1044174) and are non-party-political. Our geographic focus is on England, although on some issues we look across the United Kingdom.

We do not give grants to other organisations. We are a UK-only organisation and are unaffiliated with similarly named organisations in Germany and the USA.

Study after study shows that fairness is top of most people’s priorities. But we don’t have a common understanding of what it means, or how to build a society which delivers it. This is holding us back.

The government knows that this matters, which is why it says that it is ‘levelling up’. However it eventually defines this concept, at the most basic level, levelling up is about building a fairer society and economy.

The Fairness Foundation helps to create the conditions for a fairer society in the UK. We do this by pinning down and amplifying what fairness really means for people today, and by supporting partners pushing for changes which deliver on this vision.

This includes assessing how fairly the government is managing key areas like housing, education and health, and reflecting back what experts and ordinary people make of these outcomes.

Our vision is a fairer society in which everyone has the same chance to live their best and fullest life.

Our mission is to change the terms of the public debate about fairness, to promote the benefits of a fair society, and to inspire citizens, the media and decision-makers to create a fairer society.

Our focus is wide, not deep. We don’t want to duplicate the brilliant research, policy and advocacy work that others are doing on specific issues. Instead, we take a holistic, cross-cutting view that allows us to identify opportunities to effect change that often appear at the points where different issues intersect.

We amplify and connect the work of our partners, bridging divides and asking new questions as we go. We also bring new voices into the conversation, who can make the case for a fairer society as both the right and the smart thing to do.

We work in partnership with a group of expert contributors, who we collaborate with on specific projects on an individual, ad hoc basis.

Membership of this group does not automatically imply broader endorsement of the views or activities of the Fairness Foundation, or vice versa.

We consulted with a wide range of people and organisations during the scoping and design phase of setting up the Fairness Foundation (in addition to the people listed above on our board and editorial board, and in our expert contributors network).

During the scoping phase we found strong and wide-ranging support for the creation of an organisation focusing on changing the terms of the debate around fairness.

Many thanks to the people and organisations below who generously gave their time and expertise to help us. We are keen to hear from other organisations with whom we have not yet had the opportunity to discuss our plans and opportunities for collaboration.