Child Poverty and Child Rights: A New Era in the UK?

Read more about each of our speakers by clicking on their name below. 

Aoife Nolan is an internationally recognised expert in human rights law, with a particular focus on economic and social rights and children's rights. Aoife Co-leads Doughty Street Chambers' Children's Rights Group and is a member of the Doughty Street International Steering Group. She is Professor of International Human Rights Law at the School of the Law, University of Nottingham, where she is also Director of the Human Rights Law Centre's Economic and Social Rights Unit. Aoife is President of the Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights, the leading European monitoring mechanism on economic and social rights, having joined the Committee in 2017 and served as Vice-President in 2021-2.

Read the full profile here. 

I entered the care system at the age of 15 as an unaccompanied asylum-seeker, and today, at 23, I am studying at medical school at Swansea University after completing my education at Dr Challoner's Grammar School. My involvement with the National Children’s Bureau began through the charity Become, and over the last year, I’ve taken on several roles in various NCB-led projects. As a member of the Department for Education advisory board, I have actively contributed to national influencing activities, attended Parliament for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children and Young People, and co-produced a podcast. My work with NCB has allowed me to advocate for the needs and rights of young people, while also gaining valuable experience in policy and public engagement. What I do with NCB makes me extremely happy.

Anna is Chief Executive of National Children’s Bureau. Alongside this, Anna is co-chair of the Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) board, a member of the UK Trauma Council, an independent member of the Internet Matters Governing Committee  and a trustee at Serious  – a non-profit organisation that brings people together through music with industry leading events, including the London Jazz Festival. Before joining NCB in September 2014, Anna was the Chief Executive of EveryChild and a founder of Family for Every Child, a membership organisation for national civil society organisations providing care and protection for children. Before this she was Oxfam's Head of Communications, the Chair of ActionAid UK and Chair of Bond, the membership organisation for the UK's international development organisations. After working for Oxfam, Anna became Director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Association of London Government (now London Councils) where she worked with London's 33 authorities on child protection issues following the Victoria Climbie case and the introduction of Every Child Matters legislation. 

Alison Garnham has been Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) since September 2010. Prior to this she was the CEO of Daycare Trust and was previously, for nine years, the Director of Policy at One Parent Families (now Gingerbread). In her early career, she worked for women’s organisations and local voluntary sector organisations and then for nearly ten years as a welfare rights adviser in Citizens Advice Bureaux. She joined CPAG in 1989 (for the first time) where she co-authored a number of publications about the Child Support Act. She has subsequently written about childcare, lone parenthood and child poverty. Before joining One Parent Families she was Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University) where she has also been an Honorary Research Fellow. She was for nine years a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Nick Hobbs is Head of Advice and Investigations for the office of the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland.

Nick leads a team whose role is to exercise the Commissioner’s legal powers of investigation into violations of children’s rights, and to engage in strategic litigation on key children’s rights issues.

He is part of the Commissioner’s 4-person Senior Management Team, which exercises collective de facto Chief Executive Officer responsibilities for the office.

Prior to joining the Commissioner’s office in 2017, Nick spent 11 years as Policy and Public Affairs Manager for the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA), within Scotland’s holistic and welfare-based children’s hearings system. In this role he worked on ensuring the organisation could positively influence law and policy on issues including human trafficking, youth justice, child protection and domestic abuse.

Nick served on the Board of the Scottish Child Law Centre from 2012-2019, including four years as Chair between 2015-2019. He is a member of the International Bar Association, has a Law degree from the University of Sheffield and an MSc in Human Rights and International Politics from the University of Glasgow.

I'm a human navigating a world not designed for me. It's tough but so am I. 

I'm a sports fanatic. I coach football. I am a college student. I am a total foodie. 

I am an advocate. I am all about equity. I hold people to account. I speak up. 

I have dreams of living a big and full life, dreams of travelling, dreams of achieving my ambitions. Big, big dreams...

But life is for living, not dreaming. Dream big, live bigger!