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Fairness

Reducing the deficit fairly while protecting the vulnerable

The Spending Review sets out a new vision for a fairer Britain.  It sets out a programme of reform that will ensure those who need it most continue to receive support, but with a greater focus on services that offer opportunities for social mobility.

Fairness starts with tackling the deficit.  This ensures that future generations are not burdened with unsustainable debts, higher taxes and diminished public services.  Tackling the deficit fairly means that all sections of society that are able to contribute, should do, with more support available to the poorest.

Plans agreed in the Spending Review to build a fairer society include:

• Protecting schools spending, and introducing a new fairness premium worth £7.2 billion in total over the Spending Review period which will support the poorest in the early years and at every stage of their education.
• Ensuring the welfare state is sustainable including by ensuring that the amount a household can receive from welfare is no more than an average family gets by going out to work, and withdrawing Child Benefit from higher-rate tax payers.
• Making social housing more responsible, flexible and fair so that more people can access social housing in ways that better reflects their needs; meeting the Government’s pledge in the Coalition Agreement by making in the region of £1.5 billion available for the Equitable Life Payments Scheme.
• Maintaining the commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) on international development aid by 2013.

It is vital that policy decisions are transparent to allow proper scrutiny. The Government has for the first time published an analysis of the impact of the Spending Review.

Find out how the Spending Review supports the Government’s other priorities:

• Growth
• Reform

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