 Jones was educated at the North London Collegiate School and Westfield College, University of London (in Oxford).She worked in WEA and Extra-Mural teaching from 1943 to 1945, and went to work at the University of Manchester after a career break in 1951.She lectured in Social Administration until 1965, when she became Professor of Social Policy in the University of York, a post which she held until 1987.