Inequality in the UK increased dramatically over the 1980s. Since the early 1990s high levels of inequality have become entrenched and while government policy has had some success in protecting certain groups the UK population remains deeply divided across a number of dimensions. In this chapter we examine trends in inequality, the effectiveness of government tax-benefit and public expenditure in terms of reducing inequality, and how inequality trends relate to trends in social, cultural, and political dimensions of people’s lives. This involves the analysis of average levels and social...

Inequality in the UK increased dramatically over the 1980s. Since the early 1990s high levels of inequality have become entrenched and while government policy has had some success in protecting certain groups the UK population remains deeply divided across a number of dimensions. In this chapter we examine trends in inequality, the effectiveness of government tax-benefit and public expenditure in terms of reducing inequality, and how inequality trends relate to trends in social, cultural, and political dimensions of people’s lives. This involves the analysis of average levels and social gradients where available. We conclude that the descriptive trends suggest that inequalities in income are associated with divisions in a range of other variables – such as, health, mortality, voter turnout, trust – but there is little to support the hypothesis that higher levels of inequality causes increases in average ‘social ills’.