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Background
Donald is an independent consultant, working two days a week as Head of Income Studies for CRSP. Details of his consultancy work and publications are on his own website.
Donald started his career as a journalist, and worked on the staff of The Economist in the late 1980s. He then spent three years on the staff of the OECD, comparing education and related policies of countries around the world. In the past fifteen years, his consultancy work has involved writing reports and making linkages between evidence and policy for a range of public bodies, charities and other organisations. From 1998 to 2008 he was Poverty Adviser to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, where he played a leading role in developing the Foundation’s analysis of child poverty, as well as working on a range of other poverty-related topics.
Current Projects
Donald joined CRSP in 2008 and takes an overview of a range of projects at the Centre related to income, poverty and debt. At present his main work is focused on:
A Minimum Income Standard for Britain
This project brings together the methodological expertise of CRSP and the Family Budget Unit (FBU) at York University in a project that combines CRSP's consensual budget standards methodology with the FBU's normative approach. The research has brought together over 200 people in 39 focus groups, together with input from experts on heating and nutrition, to devise a minimum income standard for a range of household types. See www.minimumincomestandard.org for further information.
Following the publication of the 2008 report giving the first minimum income standard results, Donald is involved in developing this into a permanent standard, uprated annually and presented clearly to the public. In 2009 he has been responsible for the latest MIS update and for developing a new Minimum Income Calculator. He is also involved in exploring its applications in policy and decision-making in Britain, and developing links with projects to produce budget standards in other countries.
Review of the Child Material Deprivation Items in the Family Resources Survey: Qualitative Element (MIS Necessities)
The Department for Work and Pensions commissioned CRSP to investigate what items parents consider are essential necessities for families with children in Britain. Drawing on the methodology used in the MIS study, this qualitative research is designed to help update the government’s measure of deprivation in families with children. It has informed the design of a large-scale survey (the ONS Omnibus Survey) asking members of the public which items they think that every family in Britain should be able to afford if they want them, whose results in turn will be applied in future Family Resources Surveys to measure how many families lack a selection of items that the public considers to be necessities.
Report: Hirsch, D. and Smith, N. (2010) Family values – parents’ views on necessities for families with children, Department for Work and Pensions Research Report No 641. Norwich: HMSO.
Minimum Income Standard: Rural Costs
The Commission for Rural Communities (CRC) has commissioned CRSP to develop a minimum income standard for people living in rural areas, in relation to the MIS for Britain.
The research uses tailored version of the methodology from the original project to meet the challenges associated with rural costs.
A Minimum Income Standard for Northern Ireland
Following the launch of the Minimum Income Standard for Great Britain, this research examines how it compares with a MIS for Northern Ireland. The project involved desk-based research, on-foot price checking and focus groups in Omagh and Belfast. The research found that while some living costs are more and some less, overall the budgets required were similar enough in Northern Ireland and Great Britain to talk about a UK MIS.
Report: Smith, N. Phung, V.H., Davis, A. and Hirsch, D. (2009) A minimum income standard for Northern Ireland, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
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