Wellbeing Appraisal
Is a policy, programme, or investment worth it?

We forecast the wellbeing benefits and costs of a policy, programme, or investment before a decision is made, to appraise its likely value for money. We conduct cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses, measuring and valuing the whole range of benefits in terms of WELLBYs and in line with official appraisal standards: HM Treasury's Green Book in the UK, New Zealand Treasury's CBAx framework, and their equivalents elsewhere. That is what sets rigorous appraisal apart from the conventional kind, which prices what is easy to count and ignores much of what actually matters to people.

Who it's for: treasuries and finance ministries, government departments and their agencies, the insurance industry, and the engineering and consulting firms that deliver large-scale programmes.

Case Study | Investing in Early Warning Capability for Floods and Storms: An Appraisal of Benefits and Costs for New Zealand

Wellbeing Evaluation
Did a policy, programme, or investment actually work?

We evaluate the wellbeing impacts that a policy, programme, or investment delivered, and measure and monetise them using WELLBYs for value-for-money assessment afterwards. We estimate causal impacts through randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-experiments that exploit particular design features of interventions, to the standard of evidence-based policy. That is what sets rigorous evaluation apart from the conventional kind, which too often mistakes correlation for impact.

Who it's for: Government departments and agencies running social and community programmes, the third sector, and funders that need credible evidence of realised impact.

Case Study | Impact Evaluation of the NHS Volunteer Responders Programme

Wellbeing Valuation
What is it worth?

We put a credible monetary value on the impacts that markets miss, from health, social connection, good work, community, and the environment, to the intangible “feelgood” factor of an event or place that clients so often struggle to justify to Treasury or funders. We do this using the WELLBY and the broader set of valuation methods our team has developed, isolating genuine effects through natural experiments and robust comparison wherever the data allow. The result is a value clients can defend under scrutiny – a credible number, not a flattering one.

Who it's for: Event organisers; host cities; national, devolved, and local governments; sports bodies; cultural and heritage organisations; and sponsors valuing community and brand impact.

Case Study | What Was the “Feelgood” Factor of the London 2012 Olympics Worth?

Policy Modelling
What if?

We model the wellbeing benefits, costs, and fiscal impacts of different, hypothetical policy scenarios before you commit to it, and rank them on a single measure of value for money: WELLBYs gained per pound spent, within and across policy domains. We build custom simulation models that governments and businesses can run themselves, tailored to their intervention or workforce.

Who it's for: Treasuries and central economic bodies, government departments and their analytical units, overseas governments and international institutions, and private-sector employers.

Case Study | A Lifetime Wellbeing Ready Reckoner: A Feasibility Study

Bespoke Research
What do you need to know?

We build bespoke wellbeing research around a single client We build bespoke wellbeing research around a single client question, designing and running surveys and experiments, analysing the data, and turning it into an authoritative, decision-ready report.

Who it's for: Businesses and their HR and reward functions, foundations and charities, public bodies with one-off research questions, and the consultancies that need a wellbeing research workstream.

Case Study | The Happiness Dividend: Making the Business Case for Employee Happiness

Standards & Methods Development
Authoring the WELLBY and the wider methods and tools that surround it

We develop the guidelines, methods, and methodological frontier of the field itself: the work our other services rest on. We write the method, not just apply it, and we keep writing it, in close partnership with the governments that use it, in a constant exchange that keeps the methods rigorous, practical, and fit for real-world decisions. We deliver commissioned guidance, methods development, and convening.

Who it's for: Treasuries and finance ministries, government departments and agencies, national statistical agencies such as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the UK, international organisations, and foundations.

Case Study | Valuing Life and Health Using Wellbeing Data