Lydia HayesView profile
Professor
Professor Lydia Hayes is a Professor of Labour Rights at the University of Liverpool, affiliated with the School of Law and Social Justice and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She leads the £5.8 million Centre for People’s Justice, a cross-sectoral initiative focused on community-led research to strengthen social justice outcomes in employment, welfare, and public services. Her work emphasizes the intersection of law, health, and economic inequality, particularly for low-wage workers and care providers. Hayes has held leadership roles, including Head of Kent Law School, and has been recognized with awards from the Socio-legal Studies Association, Society of Legal Scholars, and others. Research Focus: Labour rights, social care regulation, equal pay, and the legal dimensions of poverty and health. Key Projects: Centre for People’s Justice, Social Care Regulation at Work (Wellcome Trust), and studies on food insecurity among workers. Teaching: Module Co-ordinator for 'Employment Law: Rights and Justice at Work' and teaches 'Public Interest Lawyering'. Her research employs community writing methods and narrative production to co-create knowledge with marginalized groups. Notable publications include Stories of Care: A Labour of Law, Gender and Class at Work (2017) and recent works on food insecurity and legal barriers in social care. Awards: SLSA Research Excellence Award, Wellcome Trust Principal Investigator, Journal of Law and Society Fellowship. Grants: Leverhulme/British Academy, Wellcome Trust, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Hayes advocates for legal reforms to address systemic inequities, including reimagining equal pay law to combat sex-based low pay and improving social care sector standards through regulatory redesign.











