The Fairness Index is a project of the Fairness Foundation, published in October 2022.

Methodology

How to use the Fairness Index

The Fairness Foundation

DEFINING FAIRNESS

What is fairness?

In late 2021 we proposed five FAIR NECESSITIES as the basis for a fair society:

FAIR ESSENTIALS / Everyone should have their basic needs met so that no one lives in poverty, and everyone can play a constructive role in society

FAIR OPPORTUNITIES / Everyone should have a decent chance to succeed in life, so we should remove the key barriers that prevent people from having equal opportunities

FAIR REWARDS / Everyone’s hard work should be rewarded on the basis of their contribution to our society and economy

FAIR EXCHANGE / 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

FAIR TREATMENT / Everyone should be treated according to need, enjoying equal respect and equal influence on decisions made in their name

Read The Fair Necessities

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

What do the public think?

We ran a nationally representative survey of 3,140 adults across Britain in April 2022 to ask what people thought of our definition of fairness. The survey results showed that there is very strong public support for these five ‘fair necessities’, with 74% agreeing or strongly agreeing with them overall.

Visualisation made with flourish.studio

Browse the full survey results

MEASURING FAIRNESS

Do we live in a fair society?

The Fairness Index aims to measure how far the five ‘fair necessities’ have been realised in the UK.

FAIR ESSENTIALS

Wealth

Percentage of wealth held by the richest 20% and poorest 20%

Poverty

Percentage of people living in poverty

Living standards

Percentage of people unable to afford an acceptable standard of living

FAIR OPPORTUNITIES

Secondary school

GCSE attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils

Higher education

Difference between percentage of disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils who go to university

Graduate outcomes

Difference between percentage of disadvantaged and privately educated graduates who become top quintile earners

FAIR REWARDS

Executive pay

Pay gaps between CEOs and average employees

Equal pay

Gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps

Low pay

Percentage of employees paid less than the real Living Wage

FAIR EXCHANGE

Income tax

Difference between the effective average tax rates of top earners and median earners

Council tax

Difference between council tax bills as a percentage of net income for rich and poor

Tax enforcement

Difference between the enforcement of tax fraud and benefits fraud

FAIR TREATMENT

Health outcomes

Healthy life expectancy gap between rich and poor

Housing quality

Percentage of homes that are classified as non-decent

Carbon emissions

Difference in per capita CO2 emissions between rich and poor

DRILLING DOWN

How can we make sense of these numbers?

For each ‘fair necessity’, alongside the headline indicators and a brief discussion of each, the Fairness Index looks at the underlying issues:

The statistics behind them (e.g. regional and group breakdowns and overseas comparisons)

The substance of the issues (causes and consequences)

The real-life stories that sit alongside the numbers

The survey data that tells us about public attitudes to the issues

The solutions that will enable us to build a fairer society

MEASURING GAPS

What gaps does the index measure?

The Fairness Index seeks to understand the causes, nature and consequences of a variety of gaps:

The gaps between rich and poor and different groups and regions (economic, political, social), and how these reinforce each other and accumulate over time Explore the statistics and substance sections