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Social Security Advisory Committee homepage
Membership
Read the minutes of our monthly meetings and find out about the members of the committee.
Meeting dates
-
3 December 2014
- 28 January 2015
- 4 March 2015
- 15 April 2015
- 20 May 2015
- 24 June 2015
- 29 July 2015
- 2 September 2015
- 7 October 2015
- 4 November 2015
- 2 December 2015
Minutes of meetings
2014
2013
Paul Gray – chair of the committee
The chair of the committee is Paul Gray CB.
The committee members are as follows.
John Andrews OBE
John Andrews is the former head of tax at Coopers & Lybrand (now PWC) and was president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. Since 1998 he has been a full-time volunteer in the charity sector with a particular focus on helping those on low incomes cope with the complexity of the law.
Adele Baumgardt
Adele Baumgardt is a consultant providing advice on diversity and quality issues to public authorities. She is a member of the Welsh Government’s Third Sector Partnership Council and is vice-chair of Sport Wales. She is a former chair of the Public Transport Committee in Wales and a former Wales commissioner for the Women’s National Commission.
John Ditch
John Ditch is a former Professor of Social Policy at the University of York and a former Pro Vice-Chancellor at Northumbria University. He is a senior expert to the EU’s Mutual Information System on Social Protection and an Independent Consultant and Honorary Professor of Social Policy at the University of York. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Royal Statistical Society. As a former Chair and Vice-Chair of two NHS Board and as an independent members of the Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales, he has extensive board and committee experience.
Keith Faulkner CBE
Keith Faulkner is the chair of Twin Group and chair of the Membership and Nominations Committee of the Institute of Employability Professionals. He is a former managing director of a public/private joint venture company delivering work contracts for the DWP. He’s also a former senior executive at Manpower and has led major HR projects at BT, IBM, NatWest and Rank Xerox. He is an active member of both the CBI and Acevo.
Colin Godbold
Colin Godbold is a consultant specialising in delivery of large scale Information Technology and organisational change programmes. He is a former partner in IBM’s consultancy and services practice. In his 30-year experience, he has led the delivery of complex programmes in both the public and private sectors. He is a fellow of the British Computer Society and is a chartered and European Engineer.
Chris Goulden
Chris Goulden heads the poverty team in the policy and research department at Joseph Rowntree Foundation. He is a former social researcher at the Home Office and Cabinet Office. He’s also a former clinical researcher on cancer in the NHS, a former member of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills and a former member of the Social Research Association Board.
Dr Jim McCormick
Dr Jim McCormick is co-founder of a research partnership McCormick-McDowell, Scotland Adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a board member of Scottish Business in the Community and a member of the Stroke Association Scotland Committee. Previously he was director of independent think-tank the Scottish Council Foundation. He’s also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Gráinne McKeever
Gráinne McKeever is the Chair and Executive Director of the Law Centre, Northern Ireland, a not-for-profit specialist advice organisation. She is a Reader in Law at Ulster University, with research and teaching expertise in social justice. She is the Assistant Editor of the Journal of Social Security Law and currently teaches social security law and policy to undergraduate and postgraduate law students. Gráinne is a Director of Ulster University’s Law Clinic, through which postgraduate law students provide social security advocacy for members of the public.
Matthew Oakley
Matthew Oakley works at Which?. He is the former Head of Economics and Social Policy at Policy Exchange, where he wrote extensively on reform of the social security system, employment services and care system. He’s also a former economist at HM Treasury, where be provided advise on the tax and benefit systems. He has a masters degree in economics from UCL where he specialised in labour economics and econometrics.
Seyi Obakin
Seyi Obakin is the Chief Executive of Centrepoint, a leading national charity working with young people who have experienced homelessness. He is a chartered accountant and has worked in a wide range of social housing provision. He has also been involved in research and inquiries into family life and the support families need, lifelong literacy and youth enterprise. He is currently serving as a Commissioner of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.
Judith Paterson
Judith Paterson has worked in the field of social security law and advice for more than 25 years and is currently leading a Scotland-wide, second tier welfare rights service for the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland. Her work involves contributing to social policy work and analysing legislation and issues arising from casework for their impact on individuals, families and services.
Nicola Smith
Nicola Smith is the Head of the Economic and Social Affairs of the Trades Union Congress and oversees research and policy development on a wide range of areas from macro-economic policy, the labour market and public spending to housing, transport and pensions. She is a former principal researcher at the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion and has worked in related roles at Barnardo’s and the Department for Education.
Diana Whitworth
Diana Whitworth is a trustee of the John Ellerman Foundation, a grant-making trust, and of Cranstoun, a charity providing crisis and rehabilitation services to drug users. She is also a trustee of Headway East London, which provides support to people affected by brain injury. She is a former board member of the Big Lottery Fund, where she chaired the International Grants Committee. She is also a former member of the Advertising Standards Authority. She’s previously worked at Citizens Advice, the National Consumer Council, Carers UK, Grandparents Plus and the Young Foundation.
Victoria Todd (adviser)
Victoria is an unpaid adviser to the Social Security Advisory Committee on HMRC-related issues. She is Welfare Rights Technical Officer for the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) of the Chartered Institute of Taxation. In that role, she leads work on tax credits, represents the interests of low income taxpayers in the tax system and represents LITRG at a number of HMRC forums and groups. She also writes on tax credits for claimants and their advisers, lectures to adviser audiences and broadcasts on radio. Victoria co-wrote the ‘Tax Credits Handbook 2012/13’ which provides comprehenvive guidance and commentary on the tax credits system. She is a member of the Association of Tax Technicians.