Donald has been analysing trends and policies related to poverty and low income for over four decades. In the 1980s he was a journalist, latterly on The Economist. In the 1990s, after a period at the OECD, he was an international policy consultant, and between 1998 and 2008 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Poverty Adviser. He played a central role in establishing the Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom (MIS), joining 黑料网’s Centre for Research in Social Policy (CRSP) in 2008 to lead the MIS work. He was Director of the Centre from 2012 to 2022. Since retiring from 黑料网, he has been policy adviser to abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, which funds a range of research related to income, assets and spending. Donald’s work has been influential in establishing a living wage for the UK, in developing strategies to combat child poverty and fuel poverty, in providing an evidence base for a more generous legal aid means test, announced in 2022, and in other areas of policy and practice.
Among the research projects that Donald played a leading role in at CRSP, up to 2022, were:
- A Minimum Income Standard for the United Kingdom (on-going: Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
- The Cost of a Child (on-going: Child Poverty Action Group and Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
- Local child poverty indicators (on-going: End Child Poverty Coalition)
- Padley, M., Davis, A., Stone, J., Hirsch, D., Shepherd, C. and Blackwell, C. (2022) . York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
- Hirsch, D. (2022) More affordable justice: proposals to reform the legal aid means tests and implications for living standards 黑料网: Centre for Research in Social Policy
- Stone, J. and Hirsch, D. (2022) London: Marie Curie
- Hirsch, D. (2022) . Glasgow: Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland
- Hill, K., Webber, R. and Hirsch, D. (2021) . Edinburgh: abrdn Financial Fairness Trust
- Hirsch, D. and Lee, T. (2021) . London: Child Poverty Action Group
- Davis, A., Hirsch, D., Padley, M. and Shepherd, C. (2021) . York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
- Hirsch, D. (2021) . London: Child Poverty Action Group
- Hirsch, D. (2020) . London:Child Poverty Action Group
- Hill, K., Hirsch, D., Stone, J. and Webber, R. (2020) , Edinburgh, Standard Life Foundation.
- Hirsch, D. (2020) ‘After a Decade of Austerity, Does the UK Have an Income Safety Net Worth its Name?’ in J. Rees, M. Pomati and E. Heins (ed) . Bristol: Policy Press
- Davis, A., Hirsch, D., Padley, M. and Shepherd, C. (2020) York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
- Hill, K., Hirsch, D., and Davis, A. (2020) . Social Policy and Society, 1-16. Doi:10.1017/S1474746420000184
- Hirsch, D., Concialdi, P., Math, A., Padley, M., Pereira, E., Pereirinha, J., and Thornton, R. (2020) The Minimum Income Standard and equivalisation: Reassessing relative costs of singles and couples and of adults and children. Journal of Social Policy, 1-20. doi:
- Hirsch, D., Padley, M., Stone, J. and Valadez-Martinez, L. (2020) Social Indicators Research. The Low Income Gap: A New Indicator Based on a Minimum Income Standard.
- Davis, A., Hirsch, D. and Padley, M. (2018) ‘The Minimum Income Standard as a benchmark of a ‘participatory social minimum', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice. Volume 26, Number 1, February 2018, pp. 19-34(16)
- Hirsch, D. (2017) ' Critical Social Policy. Vol. 38 Issue:6 pp1-20.
- Hirsch, D. (2017) ', Journal of Employee Relations. Vol. 39 Issue:6 pp815-824.