Britain is a wealthy country, but its wealth is increasingly concentrated in few hands. While wealth inequality has remained fairly stable in relative terms over recent decades (with the richest 10% owning about 50% of the UK’s wealth), substantial rises in the value of assets have dramatically increased the absolute wealth gap between the richest and poorest households to a level that is second only to the USA. As a result, wealth – or its absence – has a bigger impact on people’s lives than ever before, from their housing to their health.
The fact that much wealth is unearned raises serious questions of fairness, but the size of the wealth gap also has demonstrably negative impacts on our economy, society, democracy and environment. Contrary to the orthodox idea that inequality is necessary for a dynamic economy, growing evidence suggests that wealth stratification undermines productivity and growth. It also reduces social cohesion, damages faith in democracy, and makes it harder to reach net zero. What’s more, as the size of the wealth gap is forecast to grow over the coming decades, the risk is that these existing impacts, which also exacerbate each other, will only get worse over time.
On 15 October the Fairness Foundation is publishing a 'Wealth Gap Risk Register', an online evidence resource on the impacts and risks of the wealth gap. The report is designed to address limited awareness among policymakers of the causal relationship between the wealth gap and these negative ‘spillover effects’, by communicating the evidence base as clearly and concisely as possible through a range of powerful and accessible data visualisations.
The report also looks at the evidence base for the policy solutions that will either reduce the wealth gap or mitigate its impacts on other areas, and at the evidence on public attitudes to both the problem and the solutions (including new polling and focus group research on public understanding of the impacts of wealth inequality).
During this webinar, the report’s analysis and recommendations will be discussed and situated within the wider context of the debate about inequality, poverty and the government's priorities and choices by an expert panel.
This event is being run in association with the Policy Institute at King's College London as part of our 'Fair Society' series.
Speakers
- Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North and Chair of the Business & Trade Select Committee
- Graham Hobson, Founder of Photobox and member of the Patriotic Millionaires
- Sonia Sodha, Chief Leader Writer at The Observer
- Jack Jeffrey, Researcher at the Fairness Foundation
- Will Snell, Chief Executive at the Fairness Foundation (chair)
