Tony Lynes (1929 – 12 October 2014) was a British writer and campaigner in the field of social security and pensions. After qualifying and working as a Chartered Accountant, he was employed as assistant to Professor

Richard Titmuss Richard Morris Titmuss (1907–1973) was a pioneering British social researcher and teacher. He founded the academic discipline of social administration (now largely known in universities as social policy) and held the founding chair in the su ...

at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

from 1958 to 1965. He was recruited by

Margaret Herbison Margaret McCrorie Herbison (11 March 1907 – 29 December 1996) was a Scottish Labour politician who was Minister of Social Security from 1964 to 1967. Early life Herbison was born on 11 March 1907 in Shotts, Lanarkshire to Maria Jane McCr ...

in 1965 and worked for a year in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance writing a paper on family allowances. He was appointed the first full-time secretary of the

Child Poverty Action Group Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) is a UK charity that works to alleviate poverty and social exclusion. History The Group first met on 5 March 1965, at a meeting organised by Harriett C. Wilson. It followed the publication of Brian Abel-Smith a ...

in 1966. He resigned in 1968 and moved to Oxfordshire where he met his wife, Sally. He was probably the first welfare rights officer employed by a local authority working for Oxfordshire Children's Department. He led the shareholder revolt against the

Distillers Company The Distillers Company Limited was a leading Scottish drinks and pharmaceutical company and, at one time, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was taken over by Guinness & Co. (now part of Diageo) in 1986 in a transaction which was later f ...

unwillingness to compensate

Thalidomide Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is a medication used to treat a number of cancers (including multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and a number of skin conditions including complications of ...

victims. He was a social security adviser to Labour Secretaries of State from 1974 to 1979. The Sun claimed he leaked the cabinet papers covering the debates about

Child benefit Child benefit or children's allowance is a social security payment which is distributed to the parents or guardians of children, teenagers and in some cases, young adults. A number of countries operate different versions of the program. In most co ...

. In fact it was

Malcolm Wicks Malcolm Hunt Wicks (1 July 1947 – 29 September 2012) was a British Labour Party politician and academic specialising in social policy. He was a member of parliament (MP) from 1992, first for Croydon North West and then for Croydon North, unt ...

. He claimed to have tabled more (good) amendments to Social Security legislation than anyone in history. He is credited with bringing the idea of a welfare rights movement to the UK, after he visited the US. He famously attended parliamentary debates, and on the same day composed press releases at the CPAG office which he then delivered, in person, to Fleet Street - all by bicycle. He spent his years in retirement working with Southwark Pensioners Action Group, campaigning for a better deal for pensioners. He also founded Southwark Explorers Club and the Welcome Singers. He died as a result of a being knocked over by a car in Herne Hill on 11 October 2014.

Publications

Pension Rights and Wrongs. A Critique of the Conservative Scheme
(Fabian tract) 1963 * French pensions (Occasional papers on social administration) 1967
Labour's pension plan
(Fabian tract) 1969 * Pension Rights and Wrongs 1969
Welfare Rights
(Fabian tract) 1969 * Penguin Guide to Supplementary Benefits 1981 * The

Unemployment Assistance Board The Unemployment Assistance Board was a body created in Britain by the Unemployment Act 1934 due to the high levels of inter-war poverty in Britain. The Board kept a system of means-tested benefit A means test is a determination of whether an in ...

: The Origins of

Supplementary Benefit Supplementary Benefit was a means-tested benefit in the United Kingdom, paid to people on low incomes, whether or not they were classed as unemployed, such as pensioners, the sick and single parents. Introduced in November 1966, it replaced the ear ...

1992
Our Pensions
A Policy for a Labour Government 1996

References

External links

Personal website of Tony Lynes
* Archival material at {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynes, Tony 1929 births 2014 deaths Welfare in the United Kingdom British writers