Improved children’s wellbeing: why measure it, and how (using WELLBY)

When we talk about wellbeing in policy analysis, we often refer to adults: how satisfied people are with their lives, how happy, how anxious, and how that can be translated into economic terms (e.g., cost‐benefit analysis). The adult counterpart is the concept of a WELLBY (a “wellbeing-adjusted life year” or a one-point change on a 0-10 life‐satisfaction scale for one year). 

However: 

• Children’s wellbeing has often been undervalued in policy decisions, partly because there is no widely accepted universal metric for children analogous to adult life‐satisfaction. 

• Without a standard metric, it becomes harder to compare interventions affecting children against other policy options, or to include children’s wellbeing in cost–benefit frameworks. 

Thus, the discussion paper “The C-WELLBY: Towards a Universal Measure of Children’s Wellbeing for Policy Analysis” addresses this gap. Its key messages are: 

• For children aged 10 and above, existing life‐satisfaction style questions (e.g., “How satisfied are you with your life nowadays?”) appear to be meaningful and stable enough to be interpreted similarly to adult measures. 

• For children under 10, direct life-satisfaction questions are less reliable (because cognitive/reflective capacity is still developing), so indirect/ “mapping” approaches are recommended: e.g., use of behavioural/emotional screening (like the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)) and then statistically map that to a “child WELLBY” score. 

The UK context: children’s wellbeing statistics 

To ground the above in evidence for the UK, here are several striking statistics: 

• NHS Digital, Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2023 presents the findings about the mental health of children and young people aged 8 to 25 years living in England in 2023. About 1 in 5 children and young people aged 8–25 had a probable mental disorder: 20.3% for ages 8–16; 23.3% for ages 17–19; 21.7% for ages 20–25. 

• From the Good Childhood Report 2024: 11% of children and young people surveyed had low wellbeing. Among 10–17-year-olds: 14.3% were unhappy with school (scored below the midpoint). Also: children in households in financial strain had low life‐satisfaction at 17% vs under 10% in non-strained households. 

• In 2022-23 nearly 949,200 children & young people (≈ 8% of 11.9m children in England) were referred to Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Of those, 28% (≈ 270,300) were still waiting; 39% (≈ 372,800) had their referral closed without access to support. Some waited over 2 years. 

These statistics show that children’s wellbeing in the UK is under significant pressure: mental health disorders are prevalent, barriers to support are large, and socio‐economic factors (financial strain, poverty) amplify risk. 

The MeasureUp “Improved Children’s Wellbeing” value 

MeasureUp  PW2 Improved Children’s Wellbeing summarises the monetised value: 

• Value per one C-WELLBY change: £15,920 (2024 prices) for children’s wellbeing. 

• The headline value for improved children’s wellbeing is based on the work of Isaac Parkes (LSE) in partnership with Dr Allan Little (State of Life). The discussion paper is titled “The C-WELLBY: Towards a Universal Measure of Children’s Wellbeing for Policy Analysis” and the accompanying State of Life blog post is “The C-WELLBY for Children’s Wellbeing – We Have Lift Off.” 

• Example: If an intervention improves the SDQ total difficulties score by 2 points for children under 10, the mapping coefficient (0.146 per SDQ point) means a +0.292 C-WELLBYs; monetised benefit ≈ £4,649 per child per year. 

This helps align children’s interventions with the same rigour applied to adult wellbeing in impact reporting. 

Example: Valuing a Drama Group for Children’s Wellbeing 

Imagine you plan a drama group for 20 children. Half of the participants (10 children) are aged 10 and over, and half (10 children) are under 10. You anticipate that 50% of each group (i.e. 5 older and 5 younger children) will show improved wellbeing after taking part. 

• For children aged 10 and above, wellbeing is measured directly using the standard life satisfaction question (“Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?” rated 0–10). 

• For children under 10, wellbeing is assessed indirectly using the SDQ Total Difficulties Score, which is mapped statistically to C-WELLBYs (as per The C-WELLBY paper and MeasureUp guidance). 

Step 1 — Estimate C-WELLBYs gained 

Children aged ≥ 10 (direct life-satisfaction measure) 

• Each 1-point increase = +1 C-WELLBY 

• 5 children × 1 = 5 C-WELLBYs 

Children aged < 10 (SDQ mapping) 

• Each 1-point decrease in SDQ difficulties score = +0.146 C-WELLBYs 

• 5 children × 0.146 = 0.73 C-WELLBYs 

Combined total = 5 + 0.73 = 5.73 C-WELLBYs 

Step 2 — Monetise the wellbeing gain 

• Value per C-WELLBY = £15,920 (2024 prices; Parkes & Little 2024, MeasureUp 2024) 

Age group	C-WELLBYs	Total value
10 and over	5.00	£79,600
Under 10	0.73	£11,621.60
Total	5.73	£91,221.60

Total monetised wellbeing benefit: £91,221.60 per year 

This means that if half of the 20 participating children experience the expected improvement in wellbeing, the annual social value of the drama group would be approximately £91,000. Beyond the numbers, this valuation enables comparison with other interventions (for example, youth mentoring or sports programmes) and provides a transparent, wellbeing-based estimate of the project’s contribution to children’s quality of life. 

Questions? Please feel free to contact us at hello@measure-up.org