Fran Bennett
Fran Bennett was a Senior Research Fellow, and is now an Associate Fellow of the Department. She has a particular interest in social security policy, gender issues, and poverty and participation.
She has written extensively on social policy issues for the UK government, NGOs and others. With Prof Jane Millar of the University of Bath, she was specialist advisor to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee for its inquiry into universal credit (report published July 2020).
Fran is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and is currently also a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Policy Research, University of Bath. She is a member of the policy advisory group of the Women's Budget Group.
Fran's most recent research involved investigating how Universal Credit affects couples in an ESRC-funded project (ES/R004811/1), led by Prof Jane Millar. She is currently co-editing, with Siobhan Austen and Silvia Avram, a book on the research agenda relating to the management and distribution of financial resources within the household for Edward Elgar.
Fran Bennett's research focuses on:
- social security policy
- gender issues, especially in relation to within-household distribution and tax/social security
- poverty and income distribution.
Her current research involves investigating how Universal Credit affects couples in an ESRC-funded project (ES/R004811/1), led by Prof Jane Millar, University of Bath.
Previously she examined (with others) the interaction between within-household inequalities and policy on tax and benefits in the UK in a project in the ESRC-funded Gender Equality Network (2002-10), and wrote an evidence and policy review on gender and poverty for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation with Prof. Mary Daly, DSPI.
Please note that some links may require subscription access to journals
Fran Bennett selected publications revised July 2022
- Bennett, Fran and Millar, Jane (2022) Inflexibility in an Integrated System? Policy challenges posed by the design of Universal Credit, Working Paper 22-01, Barnett Papers in Social Research, Oxford: Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford
- Griffiths, Rita, Wood, Marsha, Bennett, Fran and Millar, Jane (2022) Couples Navigating Work, Care and Universal Credit, Bath: Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath
- Bennett, Fran (2021) Gendered Economic Inequalities: A social policy perspective, London: Institute for Fiscal Studies (commentary on gender inequalities report, IFS Deaton Review)
- Bradshaw, Jonathan, Bennett, Fran, Glendinning, Caroline, Tunstall, Rebecca and Bloor, Karen (2021) ESPN Thematic Report on Social Protection and Inclusion Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis: UK, for European Social Policy Network, Brussels: Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
- Bennett, Fran (2021) 'How government sees couples on Universal Credit: a critical gender perspective', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice 29(1): 3-20
- Griffiths, Rita, Wood, Marsha, Bennett, Fran and Millar, Jane (2020) Uncharted Territory: Universal Credit, couples and money, Bath: Institute for Policy Research, University of Bath
- Bennett, Fran (2019) “Social protection for the self-employed in the UK: the disappearing contributions increase”,Journal of Poverty and Social Justice 27(2): 235-251: DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/175982718X15451304773174
- Millar, Jane and Bennett, Fran (2017) "Universal credit: assumptions, contradictions and virtual reality", Social Policy and Society 16(2): 169-182; doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746416000154; winners, Excellence in Social Policy Scholarship award from Cambridge University Press for Social Policy and Society, 2018
- Bennett, Fran (2014) "The 'living wage', low pay and in work poverty: rethinking the relationships", Critical Social Policy 34(1): 46-65; doi: 10.1177/o261018313481564
- Bennett, Fran and Daly, Mary (2014) “Poverty through a Gender Lens: Evidence and policy review on gender and poverty”, working paper for Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Bennett, Fran (2013) "Researching within household distribution: overview, developments, debates and methodological challenges", Journal of Marriage and Family 75(3): 582-597; doi: 10.1111/jomf.12020
- Bennett, Fran and Sung, Sirin (2013) "Dimensions of financial autonomy in low/moderate-income couples from a gender perspective and implications for welfare reform", Journal of Social Policy 42(4): 701-719
Saltanat Rasulova (supervised jointly with Prof Robert Walker), who is Senior Consultant (Research and Data Collection Methods portfolio), Oxford Public Management, Oxford
Dalia Ben Galim, who is Director of Policy, Advice and Communications, Gingerbread
Mariann Dosa who was co-founder and head of the School of Public Life, Budapest, and is currently working as a civil servant in the UK.
Rys Farthing (supervised jointly with Prof Robert Walker), who is a policy and charity consultant, who works with clients from Manchester City Council to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Poverty and NGOs such as WATOceans
Madeline Nightingale (supervised jointly with Erzsebet Bukodi), who is a policy analyse at RAND Europe specialising in employment and gender.
