Ageing Better's Chief Executive to advise new independent poverty commission

Our Chief Executive, Carole Easton, has taken up an offer to become an advisor to a new independent organisation formed to tackle poverty in the UK.

Dr Easton OBE has been named as an Advisory Group member to the Poverty Strategy Commission – joining a selection of top thinkers across a wide range of policy areas who will feed into the Commission’s thinking.

“I am delighted to have been invited to help shape the important ambitions of the Poverty Strategy Commission.

“The need for the Commission’s work could not be more urgent with more than 15% of people over 65 now living in relative poverty.

“Thousands of older people are facing the extremely difficult prospect of living hand to mouth and deciding whether to eat or heat, a situation which is likely only to worsen in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. So we are desperately in need of the fresh thinking and new impetus to the age-old fight against poverty that I’m hopeful the new Commission will bring.”

The Poverty Strategy Commission has been brought together to develop consensus behind the actions needed to tackle poverty in the UK. The Commission will consider actions to reduce poverty and the depth and persistence of poverty, covering everything from incomes, assets and debt, through to family policy, health and education.

The Commission is an independent and non-partisan organisation dedicated to helping policymakers and the public understand and take action to tackle poverty. The Commission has been formed and led by Baroness Stroud the CEO of London-based think tank the Legatum Institute.

Commission members include Baroness Grey-Thompson, Institute for Fiscal Studies director Paul Johnson, Timpson CEO James Timpson and Money and Pensions Service chair Sir Hector Sants.