Report

The fight for trust

This report from UK think tank the Social Market Foundation argues that overcoming falling levels of trust will require rethinking how we understand the concept.

Trust in government is at a historic low.

In this paper, Steve van Riel argues that overcoming falling levels of trust will require rethinking how we understand the concept. He sets out aims to help policymakers look a layer beneath the abstract concept of trust, and be “strategic about where greater trust will really make a difference”.

This is the inaugural paper in a new series by the Social Market Foundation – on the topic of trust in the public realm. The series is launched with this paper by Steve van Riel, an academic and Head of Trust Development at Edelman UK, which publishes the annual Trust Barometer.

In popular understanding, “being trustworthy” will naturally lead to trust – but such an approach would be mistaken. Instead, we need a deliberate, measurable trust-building efforts across different sectors. Without this, improvements in trust will be slow or non-existent.

van Riel proposes a detailed framework for developing trust strategies within public bodies. This includes defining specific trust ambitions, understanding the type of trust being sought (e.g., trust in competence vs. integrity), and identifying gaps between trust and trustworthiness.

In his foreword, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Pat McFadden said: “There are no easy answers, no shortcut solutions. As this paper attests to, trust must be built from the concrete, from the credible, from the measurable, from the deliverable. Nor is this just a task for a single party or government. It is a fight for all of us who believe that democratic politics can and must be an essential force for good.”