This year, the results of the Institute of Business Ethics’ survey, Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics, were remarkable in their consistency.

Perceptions of ethics in business, government and charities continued to fall, all of them worsening by 3 percentage points since 2023.

The figures showed that 35% of the British public believe that businesses behave ethically, compared with 38% in 2023. And 67% believe that charities behave ethically, while only 14% believe politicians do.

This ongoing downward trend is unsustainable, and fuels societal division.

How have we got to the situation where more and more organisations are thinking about their purpose and values, reporting on their activities and ESG metrics, but public trust continues to decline?

Tax avoidance

The issues businesses are reporting on are different from the public’s concerns. Our polling has told us year on year that the British public think wealth is being used unfairly. The top two issues the public are most concerned about consistently are tax avoidance, and bribery and corruption.

The third highest ranked issue this year is executive pay, which continues to increase at a far faster rate than average pay. While the public believe that some are benefiting at the expense of others, it will be difficult to increase trust.

We can only hope that leaders hear this call for action.

Businesses need to review their pay policies, ensuring that salaries can be justified, and consider fair pay guidance that encourages organisations to look at their internal pay multiples.

Above and beyond

Some organisations have gone beyond legal minimums to report on their tax contributions and businesses need to consider how to communicate their tax policies to the public.

The Bribery Act 2010 was a powerful piece of legislation which was world leading in seeking to address bribery, but its impact does not seem to have been recognised by the public.

There is more to do to both take action on these issues, and ensure that that action is recognised.

Rachael Saunders is deputy director of the Institute of Business Ethics.