John Palmer John leads our policy research, campaigning, profile-raising, digital, media and marketing activities. John has held several senior director-level communications, marketing and fundraising roles at major charities, including Oxfam, The Scout Association, the National Centre for Social Research, the MS Society, Isabel Hospice in Welwyn Garden City. Before joining Independent Age, John was the Interim Director of Philanthropy and Deputy CEO at the Milton Keynes Community Foundation. John has commercial experience, including time as a director of a leading communications consultancy in the City of London, where he led consultancy teams on a range of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and public awareness campaigns. Additionally, John has secondment and interim experience in several Whitehall Government Departments. John was Chair of Trustees at Loughborough SU, a Trustee of an award-winning addiction rehabilitation charity and is Governor of a school near his home in central Oxford. Recently, John has led the development of our new strategy, which focuses our work on supporting older people in financial hardship through our policy change campaigning, information and advice, community reconnection and funding local organisations. Twitter username@johngpalmer Morgan Vine Morgan Vine is the Head of UK Policy and Influencing at Independent Age, which aims to improve the key systems and policies that are failing older people facing financial hardship across the nations. Morgan leads activity to change policy and practise to increase the income of older people in poverty, reduce their costs and ensure their homes are affordable, secure and in a good state of repair. Across her career Morgan has amplified the voices of people affected by different issues and worked to improve policy and legislation on topics such as social security, employment, health, social care and accessibility. Before joining Independent Age, Morgan worked for multiple national charities including Age UK, RNIB, Parkinson’s UK and Versus Arthritis. Alongside this, she has played a key role in multiple coalitions including being a member of the steering group of the UK Commission on Bereavement, the co-chair of the Older People’s Task and Finish Group which formed part of the Tackling Loneliness Network set up by the Government, and was the former Chair of the Continuing Healthcare Alliance and the Prescription Charges Coalition. Morgan is also a Trustee for Age UK Bromley and Greenwich. Twitter username@MorganVine_ Phil Mawhinney Phil Mawhinney joined Independent Age in December 2018. He is a Policy Manager overseeing our work on Income, including benefit maximisation and the State Pension. He has wide experience working in the charity sector on issues like poverty, consumer affairs, fraud/scams, racism, financial inclusion and the voluntary sector. His previous roles were at Age UK, the Runnymede Trust, Toynbee Hall and Community Action Southwark.
