People should be treated according to need. People who have the same needs should be treated equally (fair process). However, people who have greater needs should receive more support, to enable them to participate in society on an equal footing with others. Today’s society falls short on both fronts. Many people are denied fair process, such as the disproportionate number of black men who are arrested, convicted and imprisoned in the UK. Many people with greater needs are denied the additional support that they need to overcome the extra barriers that they face.
Extending the principles of the NHS across society
We already treat people according to need in the NHS, and we are making progress in doing so in other areas, such as providing extra support for children with special educational needs. We need to go further and faster in extending this principle across society, by providing extra support to those who face disadvantage because of the circumstances or place of their birth, or to the impact of life events on their life chances.
Compensating for unfair opportunities
Our eventual aim should be to break down these barriers completely, but until this is achieved, we need to do much more to compensate for those barriers. This will ensure that everyone is treated fairly. ‘Equal treatment’ (fair process) only makes sense where people have equal needs, and in most contexts we are a very long way from this situation. We also need to do more to achieve social equality, so that everyone is treated with equal respect and has equal influence on decisions made in their names, regardless of their economic status.
