Dr Lavinia Mitton

Dr Lavinia Mitton is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Kent. She has over 20 years’ experience in applied social policy research, focusing on how welfare systems affect people’s lives, particularly in relation to income, inequality, and access to support.

Her work aims to inform better policy by providing robust evidence on how social security systems operate in practice. She specialises in analysing tax-benefit systems and uses large-scale data and microsimulation modelling to understand how policies translate into real-world outcomes for individuals and families.

Dr Mitton’s research has been funded by organisations including the Nuffield Foundation and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). She has contributed to interdisciplinary projects examining how pensions, health, and social care systems can work more effectively together, as well as research on public attitudes to welfare and redistribution.

Alongside her research, she works closely with policymakers and practitioners and is committed to making research accessible and relevant beyond academia. She is Course Lead for the Social Researcher Degree Apprenticeship and the Policy Officer Higher Apprenticeship, supporting professionals across the public, private and non-profit sectors to develop evidence-based policy skills.

Dr Mitton’s research focuses on how social policies work in practice. A key area of her work examines why people do not always claim the benefits they are entitled to, and what this means for poverty, inequality, and the effectiveness of public spending.

Her recent research on Child Benefit in the UK shows that changes to policy design can have wider unintended effects, reducing take-up even among families who remain eligible. This highlights the importance of clear communication, simplicity, and trust in the design of welfare systems.

More broadly, her work explores how welfare reforms shape living standards and how different parts of the system—such as pensions, health, and social care—interact. She combines quantitative analysis with a strong focus on real-world application, aiming to provide research evidence that supports better policy decisions.

SAPX4120: Introduction to qualitative and quantitative analysis

SAPX4150: Concepts and measurements in social research

SAPX5110: Survey design and fieldwork for complex surveys

SAPX4002: Who runs the UK? Power, politics and policy

SAPX4003: Applied policy analysis

SAPX4004: Implementing policy

SAPX4005: Making and communicating policy

SAPX4008: Applied research methods for evidence-based policy

Dr Mitton is a member of the Social Policy Association.

Dr Mitton is co-editor of the fourth edition of 'Social Policy', a major textbook from Oxford University Press.