First published 19 October 2022 | Last updated 12 March 2025
BACKGROUND / Setting the scene
All of the key indicators and messages on a single page, grouped by area, with links to the underlying statistics, substance (arguments), stories, surveys and potential solutions.
An innate sense of fairness is hardwired into us, because humans evolved by building large social groups that depend on fair co-operation and rewarding positive behaviour…
The Fairness Index is the first online resource to collate and explain the key data about how fair British society is today. It focuses on five areas linked to the five ‘fair necessities’.
The index should be of interest to everyone, but is particularly designed to help social change organisations by explaining how and why the problems they seek to address are unfair.
The Fairness Foundation works to change the debate around fairness in the UK and to promote fairness as the foundation of a healthy, prosperous and secure society.
THE FAIR NECESSITIES / What is fairness?
Our definition of fairness, developed and published in 2021 and validated by polling in April 2022
Everyone should have their basic needs met so that no one lives in poverty, and everyone can play a constructive role in society
Everyone should have a decent chance to succeed in life, so we should remove the key barriers that prevent people from having equal opportunities
Everyone’s hard work should be rewarded on the basis of their contribution to our society and economy
Everyone should contribute to society by paying the taxes that they owe, and in return they should be supported by society when they need it
Everyone should be treated according to need, enjoying equal respect and equal influence on decisions made in their name
INDICATORS / How fair is the UK?
15 indicators, three for each of the five fair necessities, to test whether we live in a fair society (methodology)
STATISTICS / What are the numbers behind the headline indicators?
Additional data such as regional and group breakdowns, changes over time, and overseas comparisons
SUBSTANCE / Why is the UK unfair?
Arguments about the nature, causes and consequences of key inequalities, citing and linking to third-party reports
SOLUTIONS / What can we do about it?
Some suggested solutions put forward by other organisations, grouped under three broad headings
SURVEYS / What does the public think?
A database of third-party polling on public attitudes linked to the fair necessities, as well as our own polling
What does our polling show?
STORIES / How does this translate into real life?
Links to interviews with people who have experienced the sharp end of living with unfairness in the UK, or stories about other aspects of unfairness
