Fran Bennett
Biography
Fran Bennett had an academic teaching and research post in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, for over 20 years and is now Emeritus Fellow. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and has a particular interest in social security policy, gender issues, and poverty and participation.
Fran has written extensively on social policy issues for the UK government and others and was a specialist advisor to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee for its inquiry into Universal Credit (2020).
Fran has worked for the Child Poverty Action Group and Oxfam, was involved with a local advice centre for two decades and is a longstanding member of the policy advisory group of the Women’s Budget Group. She has also been an independent consultant and continues to work with the European Social Policy Analysis Network.
Committee member
Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) members are appointed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to:
- give advice on social security issues as it sees fit
- consider and report on social security regulations that have been referred to it
- advise on matters referred to it by the Secretary of State or the Northern Ireland department responsible for social security
- scrutinise the products produced by the Department for Work and Pensions