Carey has been Chief Executive of the Early Intervention Foundation, a charity and What Works Centre for early intervention for children and families since 2013. Carey’s previous roles include Co-director of the Institute of Public Policy Research, Special Advisor to Tony Blair in the Number 10 Policy Unit between 2000-05, specialising in employment, social security, childcare and poverty. Carey has also been a senior lecturer in social policy at the South Bank University, deputy director and head of research at the Child Poverty Action Group, chaired the London Child Poverty Commission and advised the Treasury on welfare reform, and the Department for Education on childcare and early years strategy. She recently trained to be a teacher and taught history and politics at an inner-city London school for three years.