Baroness Meacher was educated at the Berkhamsted School for Girls, the University of York, and the University of London.

Baroness Meacher has held a number of senior management roles, and worked as a senior adviser to the Russian Government on employment in the 1990s.

She has been the author and editor of books on mental health and poverty. She has served as deputy chair of the Police Complaints Authority and Chair of the Security Industry Authority. Until recently she was Chair of the East London NHS Foundation Trust.

On 2 May 2006, she was made a life peer, of Spitalfields, and sits as a crossbencher.