Slipping further into the void

The latest update of the Fairness Index shows that, on key measures of inequality and poverty, Britain has become even more unfair in recent years

How can we quantify and measure fairness? I spent arguably too much of 2022 thinking about this question, after spending several months of the previous year coming up with a five-pointed definition of fairness (the Fair Necessities - fair essentials, fair opportunities, fair rewards, fair exchange and fair treatment).

The standard indicators that are used to measure inequality, such as the ‘Gini’ coefficient (a standardised statistical measure of the income, wealth or consumption inequality of a given country), don’t really tell us how much of that inequality is unfair - to what extent these unequal outcomes are caused by unequal opportunities. To be clear, we believe that most inequality is unfair, because unequal outcomes also create unequal opportunities, but we also accept that sceptics need convincing on this point.

In October 2022, we published the first edition of the Fairness Index, an online tool to examine and explain the nature, causes and consequences of key inequalities in the UK. It is based on 15 indicators, three for each of the five ‘fair necessities’, and aims to measure how far the five ‘fair necessities’ have been realised in the UK, to provide an answer to the question - do we live in a fair society? Each indicator has been chosen on the basis that it speaks to a concern about fairness, not simply about inequality.

We’ve just given the index an update. Some of the numbers haven’t changed since we last updated them in early 2024, in some cases because there’s no new data, but many have moved in the last year or so (albeit that this refers to earlier periods, due to the time lag in data collection). And while there’s some good news (the gender pay gap has decreased slightly), the overall picture remains bleak, and has got noticeably worse in some areas:

• Another million people are living in poverty (bringing the total to 16 million, or 24% of the population)

• Another million jobs are paid below the real living wage (up to 4.5 million jobs), as wages have failed to keep pace with a steep rise in the cost of living

• The educational disadvantage gap at age 16 and in terms of university admissions has continued to widen (the first has now exceeded 19 months)

• Increasing numbers of people (now at 19%) feel unfairly treated by society

The full set of updated indicators is set out below, and you can browse the data in detail online. For each of the five ‘fair necessities’, the Fairness Index also looks at the gaps between rich and poor and between different groups (based on gender, ethnicity, disability, region and so on), and the gaps between reality and public perceptions and preferences. It puts the statistics into context and explains why the gaps are unfair, how they reinforce each other, and what can be done about them, in five sections: statistics, substance, stories, surveys, and solutions.

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THE FAIRNESS INDEX 2025

Click on a link below to read more details online

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)

• Wealth: The richest 20% own 60% of the country's wealth, while the poorest 20% own just 0.7% (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

• Poverty: 24% of people in the UK (16 million people) live in poverty (Social Metrics Commission, 2024)

• Living standards: 30% of people in the UK are unable to maintain a decent standard of living (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2024)

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)

• Secondary school: Disadvantaged children are 19.2 months behind their peers by the time they take their GCSEs (Education Policy Institute, 2024)

• Higher education: 29% of disadvantaged pupils go to university, compared to 50% of non-disadvantaged pupils (Department for Education, 2024)

• Graduate outcomes: 22% of disadvantaged graduates become top quintile earners, compared to 46% of privately educated graduates (Sutton Trust / Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2021)

Fair rewards (everyone’s hard work should be rewarded on the basis of their contribution to our society and economy)

• Executive pay: The median FTSE 100 CEO is paid 120 times more than the median UK full-time worker (High Pay Centre, 2024)

• Equal pay: The gender pay gap among full-time employees is 7% (Office for National Statistics, 2024)

• Low pay: 16% of employees in the UK (4.5 million jobs) are paid below the real living wage (Living Wage Foundation, 2025)

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)

• Income tax: Some people earning £10 million pay a 21% tax rate, similar to the rate paid by a median earner on £30,000 (University of Warwick, 2020)

• Housing quality: 15% of occupied homes (3.7 million homes) do not meet basic standards of comfort, repair, facilities and safety (English Housing Survey, 2024)

• Health outcomes: The richest 10% in the UK enjoy an average of 18.5 more years of healthy life than the poorest 10% (Office for National Statistics, 2020)

Fair treatment (everyone should be treated according to need, enjoying equal respect and equal influence on decisions made in their name)

• Carbon emissions: Someone in the top 1% in the UK emits 25 times more CO2 equivalent than someone in the bottom 10% (World Inequality Database, 2022)

• Voice: 69% of people say they do not have any say in what the government does (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

• Fair treatment: 19% of people feel unfairly treated by society (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

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LAST CHANCE TO APPLY

If you’d like to help us to persuade politicians and other decision-makers and influencers in the UK to prioritise action to build a fairer society, and you’re an exceptional communicator and relationship-builder, please take a look at our vacancy for an advocacy manager, closing on 23 March. All shares much appreciated!