Ben CooperThink tank

Biography

Ben Cooper is Research Manager at the Fabian Society, Britain's oldest political think tank, which he joined in September 2018. He is also Head of the Fabian Housing Centre. He co-authored 'Support Guaranteed: the roadmap to a national care service' (2023) with Andrew Harrop, a report commissioned by UNISON and written at the request of then-Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting, which set out 48 recommendations for a National Care Service in England. In 2025 he co-authored 'Seizing the Opportunity', which made the case for a fully funded fair pay agreement for social care workers and called for a minimum wage in care aligned with NHS healthcare assistant rates. He is also a trustee for a charity supporting people with complex disabilities and is a former chair of the Co-op Party's (dis)Ability Network.

References

1. 1.Ben Cooper – Research Manager | Fabian Society — Confirms his role as Research Manager at the Fabian Society, his joining date (September 2018), his leadership of the Fabian Housing Centre, and his trustee and Co-op Party roles.
2. 2.Support Guaranteed | Fabian Society — Confirms Ben Cooper as research manager and co-author of the National Care Service roadmap report, and identifies his X handle @BenCooper1995.
3. 3.A National Care Service for all | Fabian Society — Confirms 'Support Guaranteed' was co-authored by Ben Cooper and Andrew Harrop, published 8 June 2023, funded by UNISON campaign fund.
4. 4.Seizing the Opportunity | Fabian Society — Confirms Ben Cooper as research manager and co-author (with Joe Dromey) of the 2025 fair pay agreement for social care report.
5. 5.Give care workers a £2,000 pay rise to help tackle workforce crisis | UNISON

Expertise

Cited on

• Adult social care & reform

Stated areas of expertise

• National Care Service policy
• Adult social care reform
• Care workforce pay and conditions
• Social care charging
• Disability and social care inclusion

Notable achievements

• Co-authored 'Support Guaranteed: the roadmap to a national care service' (Fabian Society, June 2023), a 48-recommendation blueprint for a National Care Service commissioned by UNISON and Wes Streeting MP, which was subsequently referenced in Labour's 2024 manifesto. Source ↗
• Co-authored 'Seizing the Opportunity: A Fair Pay Agreement for Social Care' (Fabian Society, May 2025), calling for £1.5bn government investment to deliver a £2,000 pay rise for over 600,000 care workers. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “While cross-party consensus is important, building the foundations of the national care service cannot wait. The second half of this parliament must be about delivering affordable, high quality and personalised care with better conditions for the workforce. Otherwise, voters will remain frustrated with the slow pace of change – and unwilling to trust the government with another opportunity to fix social care.”

  co-author, Fabian Society collection · Adult social care & reform · 27 Aug 2026 · Whatever happens with the leadership, Labour must tackle the issue of social care head-on | Heather Stewart ↗

• “Labour needs a bold and transformative agenda for the second half of the parliament. Whatever happens with the Labour leadership, the national care service must be the centrepiece of this plan.”

  research manager at the thinktank and co-author of that report · Adult social care & reform · 27 Aug 2026 · Plan to ban ‘private equity sharks’ from social care dropped, Wes Streeting says ↗

Source references

1. Whatever happens with the leadership, Labour must tackle the issue of social care head-on | Heather Stewarttheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. Plan to ban ‘private equity sharks’ from social care dropped, Wes Streeting saystheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://fabians.org.uk/ben-cooper-research-manager/
• Xhttps://x.com/BenCooper1995published here ↗
• Press office emailash.singleton@fabians.org.ukpublished here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.