WE DO wellby.

What we do.

We gather quantitative evidence on IF a project is working and combine this with qualitative insight on how and why this happens.

• Measure and value what matters to your life satisfaction.

• Named advisors on the 2021 HM Treasury Wellbeing Guidance

• We train clients and govt. economists in how to measure and report social value

• Produced the first studies using the new WELLBY measure of social and economic value.

Why is this is important?

Evidencing the social value of your work can retain and grow investment, membership, staff and volunteers.

Plus, the new UK Govt. Green Book (2020) on how to evaluate UK policy and projects states on p5 that:

“The appraisal of social value, also known as public value, is based on the principles and ideas of welfare economics …Social or public value therefore includes all significant costs and benefits that affect the welfare and wellbeing of the population, not just market effects.”.

As a result, if you want to measure social or public value - wellbeing is an essential.

Why work with State of Life

State of Life are named advisors on the HM Treasury 2021 Green Book supplementary guidance on wellbeing. Since 2016 we have been using a methodology that is tried, tested - and now recommended in the same HM Treasury Green book guidance chapter 5 on measurement and evaluation.

State of Life has now combined this methodology with sector leading technology and training to make collecting quality data practical and affordable. We have collected wellbeing data from people on probation, young people at risk of homelessness and villages in Zimbabwe and Tanzania.

Help us understand our social value

Free or up to £5k

• We have free guides to help your understanding. Our step by step guide to Social Impact and Value is a good introduction. Our blogs on the value banks, the wellby and why data collection is easier than you think will help with more detail. Please read before a chat with us.

• We will then look at what you do, your evidence. We will work with you on a practical plan to start measuring the right things with the people you support. Often this involves the design of a simple logic model, an outcomes framework and survey.

We want to estimate our social value

£5 - 25k

• If you already have good output, attendance data we can work with this to quantify your impacts.

• Using national open data, we can calculate your 'first order' estimate of social value. e.g. we know the value of playing a sport is £1,000 per year and your club has 55 players.

• It is vital to understand that this will be an estimate of social value - a guide. It is NOT evidence that you have actually achieved and delivered that value.

We want evidence of our social value

£25 +

• This is the State of Life, three step methodology (detailed below) looking at outcomes, impact and value.

• We properly look at the impact of your programme with the option to monetise that value in line with HM Treasury Green Book guidance.

• Training you to DIY - we can train your in-house data team to use and deploy our methodology and technology (we’ve done this for Essex Council, Duke of Edinburgh Awards and Cherwell Council)

1.Outcomes

Treasury Green Book recommended methodology

• The start is often a review of the outputs, outcomes (theory of change) your project has and the creation of a simple impact framework.

• Chapter 5 of the 2021 Green Book Wellbeing guidance advises projects to “use validated measures...that are consistent with existing measures”

• State of Life has been using this method since 2016 and has a survey outcomes bank of over 200 validated questions from UK data sets suitable for all ages and abilities.

• The UK has world-leading population data sets and surveys that measure our trust in others, our sense of belonging, loneliness, wellbeing, health, anti-social behaviour, physical activity and much more.

• We have vast experience measuring almost all social outcomes. We can advise on what’s most relevant for your project.

2. Impact

Credible evidence reported in real-time and on live digital dashboards

• The crux of any project. Do not miss this out. Was it really your project that caused the impacts observed or was it something else? i.e. were the subjects already more active, healthier and wealthier than average.

• Our outcomes methodology helps understand and evidence the difference you make by enabling immediate comparison to UK open data sets (i.e. creating a robust control group).

• For easy data collection, we use sector leading progressive web app technology that has been tried and tested with the Canal & River Trust, Duke of Edinburgh Awards, parkrun and the Sport for Development Coalition

• When combined with robust data on all participants in a project, case studies can be important to understand how a project worked. We are careful to use a synthesised approach and avoid bias and cherry picking.

3.Value

Experience across all relevant methodologies and pioneers in the 2021 WELLBY

• Now that you have used Step 2 to credibly evidence the difference you make: you have passed the ‘sniff test’.

• Then, and only then, can you can start to look at calculating the value of this impact to government and wider society.

• The 2021 Green Book supplementary guidance on wellbeing includes an exciting new measure of the WELLBY. State of Life have pioneered the use of this measure (see our case studies).

• State of Life is familiar and practised in all the methodologies around establishing and evidencing what is known as Social Value. (see our case studies)

• State of Life’s expertise in digital, publishing, economics, social impact and creative campaigning can also help with compelling and persuasive reporting (see our work here), qualitative research, GDPR advice and more.