Meet the CIPD public policy team

Ben Willmott, Head of Public Policy and Public Affairs

Ben leads our public policy team, which works to inform and shape public debate, government policy and legislation to champion better work and working lives. His personal areas of interest include industrial strategy, skills policy, labour market regulation and enforcement and employee relations and wellbeing. 

Ben led the design and development of our regional People Skills pilots, which explored the value of HR support for small firms and how it can be delivered effectively within a local skills system. His published research includes reports on the Apprenticeship Levy, line management capability, zero hours contracts and the gig economy. He is also a member of the Government-sponsored Flexible Working Taskforce and has given evidence to a range of select committee inquiries on our behalf. Before joining the CIPD, Ben was news editor and employment law editor at Personnel Today magazine. He has an LLM in employment law from Kingston University.

Carl Quilliam, Public Affairs Manager

Carl leads our engagement with the UK government, working to inform policy and legislation that champions better work and working lives. 

As our Public Affairs Manager, he provides evidence to Parliamentary committees, supports our work responding to government consultations and inquiries and engages with ministers, civil servants and others.

He is an experienced public affairs professional, with more than 15 years’ experience. He has advised public and private sector organisations on strategy, policy and public affairs. Carl also has direct experience of front-line politics, as a former staffer for a political party and a former elected councillor.

Claire Deller-Rust, Senior Public Affairs Officer (maternity leave)

Claire has been our Public Affairs Officer since 2019. Her main focus is on equality, inclusion and diversity-related topics, but also deals with other subjects.  

Before joining the CIPD, Claire worked in Parliament for an MP as a caseworker, where she dealt with constituency and policy-related issues. 

Claire completed a Masters degree in British politics, which allowed her to gain experience in Parliament through an extended internship for an MP. 

Marek Zemanik, Senior Public Policy Advisor, CIPD UK Nations

James Cockett, Labour Market Economist

James is a quantitative analyst with experience in a variety of aspects of the world of work, including low pay, equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), flexible working, social mobility, wellbeing and education and skills. James uses both publicly available data, and our own surveys to gain insights and he has a keen interest in data visualisation. 

Before joining the CIPD, James was an economist in the policy team of the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) where he completed labour market research and evaluation of employment programmes designed to support people into work. He has also led the design and analysis of numerous workforce surveys and has presented to several government departments and key stakeholders. James has also worked as a consultant, completing evaluations on the subject of social policy for public sector clients.

Jon Boys, Labour Market Economist

Jon is an experienced labour market analyst with expertise in pay and conditions, education and skills and productivity. He focuses on uncovering insights in labour market data, both publicly available and generated through in-house surveying. 

Jon regularly contributes commentary and analysis of economic issues on the world of work to online, print and broadcast media. Recent work includes an international ranking of work quality, analysis of firm-level gender pay gap reporting data and an ongoing programme of work looking at the changing age profile of the UK workforce. 

Before joining the CIPD, Jon worked for Be the Business, a government-backed company aimed at increasing firm-level productivity in the UK, and the Careers and Enterprise Company, another government-backed start-up aimed at transforming careers provision in schools. He has also held prominent research roles at an employers association and trade union researching pay, conditions, and workforce composition.

Lizzie Crowley, Senior Skills Policy Adviser

Lizzie is our employment and skills policy and research professional. She is experienced in developing high-quality research to inform organisational practice, policy and shape the public debate.

Before joining the CIPD in 2016, she led youth labour market research and policy development for The Work Foundation and developed research for public and private sectors. She has published several influential reports on skill policy and youth unemployment and appears regularly on national and regional TV and radio.

Lizzie is a sociology graduate with a Master's degree in social science research methods, both from the University of Glasgow.

Charles Cotton, Senior Adviser, Pay, Reward and Performance

Charles is a senior adviser and directs our reward research agenda. He recently led a project focusing on how HR teams can help tackle in-work poverty, how workplaces can be more transparent about reward, and how employers can support their staff during the cost-of-living crisis. 

Charles is also responsible for our public policy work around pay and benefits and has given evidence to several government select committees, including topics such as executive remuneration and ethnicity pay reporting, as well responding to consultations on pensions, the national minimum wage, and corporate governance.

Before joining the CIPD, Charles worked for the Industrial Relations Services Department and the Local Government Management Board. He has a degree in economics from Aberystwyth University and a Master's in HR from the London School of Economics. He is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD.

Lutfur Ali, Senior Public Policy Adviser, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Change

Lutfur has dedicated more than 30 years to championing social justice, equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI) and change in the public, private and third sector. He strongly believes in the importance of effective EDI leadership in driving sustainable improvements and delivering organisational vision, mission and goals. 

Before joining the CIPD, Lutfur led consultancy practice and held several high-profile roles in the public, private and not-for-profit sector, including the Tribal Group PLC, the Department of Health and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. As assistant chief executive at Tower Hamlets Council he led a transformation programme to reshape the workforce, secure partnerships, generate income and improve overall service delivery. Lutfur has served on a number of judicial public inquiries and government advisory bodies, including the Zahid Mubarak Inquiry, the Prime Minister’s Prevent Task Force and the International Ministerial Working Group on Illegal Working. Lutfur is also a non-executive director for the Business Continuity and Resilience Institute. 

Rachel Suff, Senior Adviser, Employee Relations and Wellbeing

Rachel joined us as a senior policy adviser in 2014 to help shape the public policy debate and champion better work and working lives. Rachel is a policy and research professional with over 25 years’ experience in the employment and HR arena. An important part of her role is to ensure that the views of the profession inform our policy thinking on health and wellbeing and employment relations.

Rachel leads a range of policy and research studies about health and wellbeing at work, and represents the CIPD on key advisory groups, such as NHS England's National Health and Wellbeing Expert Advisory Group and the Council for Work and Health.

Rachel is a qualified HR practitioner and researcher with a Master’s in human resource management from Portsmouth University and a post-graduate diploma in social research methods from Sussex University. Before joining the CIPD, Rachel worked as a senior policy adviser at Acas. 

Claire McCartney, Policy and Practice Manager, Resourcing and Inclusion

Claire leads our policy work on flexible and new ways of working and resourcing and talent management. Claire also works in the area of equality, diversity and inclusion and leads policy work on carers, working parents and compassionate bereavement support. She also works with colleagues on menopause and menstrual health workplace policy support.

Previously, Claire ran her own research and consultancy organisation and was acting head of research and principal researcher at Roffey Park. Claire has worked on several international projects, is the author of a range of reports, has responded to numerous Government consultations and has given evidence at a range of parliamentary groups and committees.