Jill Elizabeth Pitkeathley, Baroness Pitkeathley, (née Bisson; born 4 January 1940) is a

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. Her first job was working for

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

as a trainee child care officer in 1961. She was paid £660 a year. She worked in the

voluntary sector The voluntary sector, independent sector, or civic sector is the realm of social activity undertaken by organizations that are non-governmental nonprofit organizations. This sector is also called the third sector, community sector, and nonprofit s ...

, as chief executive of

Carers A caregiver or carer is a paid or unpaid member of a person's social network who helps them with activities of daily living. Since they have no specific professional training, they are often described as informal caregivers. Caregivers most commo ...

National Association (now renamed Carers UK) for which she was appointed an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

1993 Birthday Honours The 1993 Queen's Birthday honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's b ...

. Mrs Pitkeathley was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

as Baroness Pitkeathley, of Caversham in the

Royal County of Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, on 6 October 1997. Since 1998 she has been chair of one of the lottery distributors, the

New Opportunities Fund The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...

. In 2004, she was appointed chair of the

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) is a non-departmental public body in England set up to promote the welfare of children and families involved in family court. It was formed in April 2001 under the provisions ...

(CAFCASS). Lady Pitkeathley also chaired the

Office for Civil Society Advisory Body The Office for Civil Society Advisory Body (formerly known as the Office of the Third Sector Advisory Body or sometimes the Third Sector Advisory Body) was a quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation (quango) (officially termed a non-departm ...

until its abolition in March 2011. Lady Pitkeathley was a founding member of

ACEVO ACEVO (Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations) is a membership body for the leaders of third sector organisations in England and Wales. ACEVO has sister organisations in Scotland (acosvo) and Northern Ireland (CO3 Chief Officer ...

, the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations. She is a trustee of

Cumberland Lodge Cumberland Lodge is a 17th-century Grade II listed country house in Windsor Great Park 3.5 miles south of Windsor Castle. Since 1947 it has been occupied by the charitable foundation known as Cumberland Lodge, which holds residential conferences ...

References

1940 births Living people Pitkeathley, Jill Pitkeathley, Baroness Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Officers of the Order of the British Empire {{Life-peer-stub