Morgan Bestwick is a Policy and Partnerships Officer and specialises in work policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). This includes developing credible solutions and partnerships with others to contribute to the JRF's goal of ensuring work is a route out of poverty for more people in the UK.
Her work looks at how local labour markets and better quality jobs can lift more people out of poverty. Her projects have focused on in-work poverty, participatory policy making, employment policy, and job quality.
Prior to joining the JRF, Morgan worked in the youth sector for the Prince’s Trust and National Citizen Service. She has an MA in Legal and Political Theory from University College London.
We want to see good jobs and the quality of jobs really focused on in this recovery in a way that it wasn't necessarily focused on following the 2008 recession. This had a lot of policy attention paid to job quantity - understandably to try and tackle levels of unemployment - but not enough attention paid to job quality which contributed to growing numbers of people in in-work poverty, due to more poor quality work. Before we start looking at good jobs we also need an urgent lifeline for people. JRF is calling for a really robust Social Security system, and in particular, maintaining the £20 weekly uplift that we've seen added to Universal Credit. We also want to see this extended to legacy benefits. So that's the immediate lifeline, but in terms of building in good work to the recovery we think Government needs to be focused on people who've lost their jobs, creating good quality new jobs, and also supporting places that have been hardest hit.