Niall Cooper has been Director of Church Action on Poverty since 1997, and has been responsible for piloting a number of new approaches to anti-poverty work in the UK, drawing on international development experience, as well as running high-profile campaigns on poverty, debt and asylum-related issues.
In 1999 he co-founded the Debt on our Doorstep network for fair finance, and in 2000 he chaired the UK Coalition Against Poverty’s Commission on Poverty Participation and Power. From 2004 to 2008 he was a member of the UK Government’s Advisory Group on Over-indebtedness.
He is currently on secondment as Public Affairs Advisor to Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and previously acted as advisor to their ‘Poverty, Prosperity and Globalisation’ programme (2004-05) and to the Church of England’s Commission on Urban Life and Faith (2006).
Niall regularly speaks on church and poverty issues on radio and TV, and has written for a number of national publications.
Niall has been convenor of the URC Inner Manchester Mission Network – bringing together 14 congregations in inner Manchester – since 2006, and is chair of the Hideaway Youth Project, Moss Side, Manchester.
Married with three children, he enjoys running, walking and (until recently) the hopeless failings of Manchester City Football Club.
Niall Cooper
