Professor Matt Padley

BSocSc (Hons), MA (Econ), MPhil

  • Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP)
  • Professor of Practice
Matt Padley is Research Fellow in the Centre for Research in Social Policy and Co-director of Research for Social and Policy Studies. Matt’s research centres on living standards, poverty and social exclusion in the UK and abroad, focusing on public conceptions and understanding of living standards, and how these can be used within public policy. Much of Matt’s research has centred around the application and development of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) approach, and he leads the quantitative elements of this ongoing research programme. He is leading work connected on living standards in London, and MIS for Remote Scotland which is underpinning Scottish Government fuel poverty legislation.

Matt currently leads the MIS Global Network, founded in 2018 to support MIS research around the globe, establish links with researchers in other countries and develop new collaborative projects. Matt delivers training in the MIS approach and its application internationally and has worked with colleagues on MIS projects in Portugal, South Africa, Mexico, Singapore and Thailand.

Matt’s research focuses on income, living standards, poverty and social exclusion, both in the UK and in other countries. Running through his research is a concern with exploring public understanding and definitions of living standards, often in opposition to more ‘official’ living standards indicators and measures. His research seeks to understand and explore the patterns, causes and consequences of social disadvantage, particularly with regard to income, and his research has included extensive work on living standards and income adequacy, housing affordability, poverty measurement and international conceptions of living standards. Matt has a particular interest in exploring the application of the MIS approach in the global South.

Since 2018, Matt has also pioneered work on Retirement Living Standards, building on the established MIS programme, that has been adopted across the UK pensions industry, providing an evidence base for savers in thinking about and planning for retirement.

As an experienced qualitative and quantitative researcher and analyst, Matt has also worked on a wide range of other projects including national policy evaluations, secondary data analysis of large UK surveys and in-depth qualitative research with low-income households and individuals. Matt has advised and consulted for a wide range of organisations, including Birmingham City Council, the Money and Pensions Service, Oxfam and Unite the Union.

Matt teaches on a number of modules within the School of Social Sciences and Humanities focused on social policy, living standards and poverty.