Meet our Board
Ed Pybus
Chair
Ed Pybus has been providing expert advice on social security for almost two decades.
He began as a volunteer at Portobello Citizens Advice Bureau before working at bureaux in Fife and Skye and Lochalsh. He's worked as a welfare rights worker at Child Poverty Action Group, providing expert advice and training and was one of the authors of CPAG's Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits handbook. He's provided expert advice to the Scottish Government as a member of the Disability and Carer's Benefits Expert Advisory Group, the Minimum Income Guarantee Steering group and the Affordable Housing working group.
He is currently an independent policy consultant with an interest in social security as well as poverty, housing, childcare, environmental justice, and community ownership. He and his family are tenants on a woodland croft in Argyll.
Dr Mark Simpson
Board Member
Dr Mark Simpson is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Ulster University, Derry-Londonderry.
His research focuses on social security, poverty and human rights in the context of devolution. Mark’s first book, Social Citizenship in an Age of Welfare Regionalism: the State of the Social Union, was published in June 2022. The book examines both the impact on social security law and the constitutional tensions that result when the welfare state ideology of devolved governments conflicts with that of the UK Government. Mark’s published work also includes a report for the Equality and Human Rights Commission on Social security systems based on dignity and respect. Mark is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Social Security Law. He was also a Panel member for the independent review of the discretionary support scheme for the Northern Ireland Department for Communities and was a panel member on the Department’s independent review of welfare mitigations.
Judith Paterson
Board Member
Judith Paterson is Head of Advice and Rights (Scotland) for the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland (CPAG).
She joined CPAG in 2001 from Disability Alliance, now part of Disability Rights (UK). She has worked in the field of social security advice for more than 30 years and is an author of guides on social security law and practice. She was previously a member of the independent Disability and Carers’ Benefits Expert Advisory Group appointed by the Scottish Government and a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee, advising the UK Department for Work and Pensions.
Dr Marilyn Howard
Board Member
Dr Marilyn Howard writes on social security and is a member of the Policy Advisory Group of the UK Women's Budget Group. Previously at the University of Bristol, her work included co-produced community research and experiences of advice services. She was awarded a doctorate for research comparing Scottish and UK Government approaches to Universal Credit payment.
Other experience includes policy and strategy development on social security and employment when working for the Department for Work and Pensions and the Disability Rights Commission. She has also undertaken policy and research work for UK-wide disability organisations, Women’s Aid (England) and for a variety of organisations in a freelance capacity.
Former roles include membership of the UK Government’s Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board and the Disability Employment Advisory Committee.
Marilyn’s research interests include social security, poverty and equality, with publications on social security policy and women, carers, and disabled people. She has also worked with individuals and communities on benefits advice and advocacy.
Adam Bennett
Board Member
Adam Bennett is the Founder and CEO of ProjectChange, an organisation dedicated to empowering people with lived experience to lead changes in Scotland's care system.
He brings a wealth of expertise in advocacy, policy development, and strategic leadership. Adam served as Co-Chair of the Independent Care Review, leading on the Health and Wellbeing workstream and helping to develop the Independent Care Review’s recommendations and the subsequent The Promise report. He has also been a guest lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and served as a Board Member for Scouts Scotland.
Currently, he is a Consultant for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), advising on integrating lived experiences of poverty into organisational strategies, and a Trustee of Young Scot, supporting youth development and engagement at a national level.