WWD1
Currently Having a Job
Employment
What we do
Currently Having a Job
It is well recognised that employment status has an impact on overall wellbeing. The Green Book Supplementary Guidance on wellbeing says ‘generally, having a job is good for wellbeing and considered one of the most important factors linked with wellbeing. Being in a ‘high quality’ job is even better’.
The UK government, through its Plan for Jobs, is focused on protecting, supporting and creating jobs across the country. The Central Government Social Value Model places a social value on jobs created and a requirement for anyone wanting to supply the government with products or services, to consider the creation – or protection – of local jobs.
This makes this area of social value important to include in the Measure Up wellbeing framework.
Key Value
A monetised economic and social value of £42,000
Economic, and social value of an individual moving into work vs not being in work, per full time equivalent (FTE) job per year for a person who would not be in work otherwise.
There is well recognised value of employment to the individual in work, society as a whole, and the economy, as well as potential cost saving implications for the state. There are a number of benefits that accrue from moving someone into employment and off-benefit, including:
– Increases in earnings to the individual;
– Increases in tax receipts to the government;
– Reductions in costs to the government from the individual being on benefit; and,
– Health and wellbeing benefits from being in employment.
At the Bronze level we only include economic and wellbeing value as for other fiscal estimates a user would need additional data about the person or people in question.
The headline value includes:
- an estimated economic value of £35,000 which is based on the average wage in 2023 across the UK from published ONS data
- a wellbeing valuation using the WELLBY methodology of being in a job versus being unemployed, of £6,000. Adjusted value for inflation to 2023 prices is £7,042 (£7,000). Our approach to inflation adjustments is explained on our Methodology page HERE
An overall rounded value of (£35,000 + £7,000 =) £42,000
Actual employment wage rates can be found on the UK government website:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2022
How to measure having a job
If you’re just starting out, start with Bronze first. The result of a Bronze measurement is just an estimate, but requires the least effort; whereas Silver, Gold and Gold+ give more accurate results but require more effort.
Each level has an effort to accuracy indicator, choose the one that’s right for you.
Bronze
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Multiply the number of Full time equivalent (FTE) jobs created for people who would not be in work otherwise by £42,000. Report this stating this includes economic and wellbeing value.
Ideally, measure the number of people employed as well as the number of FTE jobs created that would not have been created otherwise.
Remember, the wellbeing value is for a person in a job, not for a job created. Two 0.5 FTE jobs created will create one FTE job but will improve the wellbeing of two people.
Where does this value come from?
The economic value is estimated from published ONS data sets and the wellbeing value is estimated from the State of Life WELLBY value guide which uses Understanding Society data for this calculation.
In 2023 the figures are,
- the economic value is estimated as £35,000
- the wellbeing value is estimated as £7,000
State of Life uses the WELLBY methodology to calculate the wellbeing value of being in a job versus being unemployed, of £7,000.
WWD1
Currently Having a Job
Employment
What we do
Silver
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Multiply the number of Full time equivalent (FTE) jobs created for people who would not have been in work otherwise by the adjusted welfare weighting. Adjust the economic estimate based on the data about the person or the role created.
At the silver level, there would be an expectation for a more accurate calculation of value, based on some specific data about your people or stakeholder groups.
Step 1: Welfare weighting
The Greenbook advises that it may be possible to ‘weight’ value based on the differences in the groups in society who are experiencing it. The Greenbook says ‘In weighted analysis, financial benefits for lower income households are given a higher social value than the equivalent benefits for higher income households.’ (pg 96) The weighting is based on the economic principles of the diminishing marginal utility of income which states that the value of an additional pound of income is higher for a low-income recipient than for a high-income recipient. There are different welfare weightings that have been calculated and published in different studies.
A conservative weighting that is published in the Greenbook is 1.3 which is the figure used by the DWP.
To be able to apply this weighting to your social value estimate figure you would need to know some more detailed information about your stakeholder group including at least:
- The employees household income before entering employment
- The employees household income after entering employment
- And/or their status before entering employment, e.g. ex offender, receiving Government benefit support, NEET
For reporting in line with the Central Government Social Value Model you would also need to know whether any employee is disabled or from any other underrepresented group as defined by Central Government.
For example:
If the person is from a household below average income (HBAI) then the welfare weight of 1.3 can be used to adjust the social value estimation.
For example, according to most recent 2022 HBAI data, this would mean the person coming from a household with an annual household income of 0.6/60% of the median household income before taxes and benefits of approx. £35,000, so approx £21,000 or below.
Therefore the value estimation for this person of having a job could be adjusted as: £30,000 economic value x 1.3 = £39,000 + WELLBY value of £7,000 = £46,000
Step 2: Adjust the economic value
At Bronze level the economic value is representative of the average UK wage. You could look to adjust this using an estimate based on your target group, e.g. on actual types of job created (level and sector, or geography) or for whom (e.g. based on gender, or age, or other demographic attribute where there is public data).
A good source for wage data is through the ONS, e.g. Low and high pay in the UK: 2022 or Earnings and wages
For example
If you are creating jobs in the construction industry, the average wage is approximately £30,000 so you would carry on using this figure. However, if you are creating jobs in the agricultural sector then the average is approximately £25,000 so you would adjust your economic figure to be more reflective of the industry the jobs are in.
Where does this value come from?
The economic value is estimated from published ONS data sets and the wellbeing value is estimated from the State of Life WELLBY value guide which uses Understanding Society data for this calculation.
In 2023 the figures are,
- the economic value is estimated as £35,000
- the wellbeing value is estimated as £7,000
State of Life uses the WELLBY methodology to calculate the wellbeing value of being in a job versus being unemployed, of £7,000.
To adjust the economic value based on more representative wage estimations use the ONS, Low and high pay in the UK: 2022
Actual benefit rates can be found on the UK government website:
Benefit and pension rates 2023 to 2024
WWD1
Currently Having a Job
Employment
What we do
Gold
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Adjust the value based on actual survey results from your stakeholders.
At Gold level you are looking to build on your silver estimations by engaging with the person or people affected.
Therefore, at the Gold level, you should survey users about their actual levels of wellbeing rather than using the ‘currently having a job’ WELLBY proxy.
There are many options for surveying people on their wellbeing.
A good starting point for questions to ask directly through primary research with your stakeholders is the Maximise Your Impact Guide. This guide covers 10 overall impact questions. For Gold level practice you would be looking to understand the question ‘what changes do people experience?’ and ‘how much of each change happened’. Questions you might want to include in your survey to uncover the outcomes they experience could include:
- What changed for you (or happened to you) as a result of our activity or programme?
- Were there any other changes?
- Did these changes lead on to anything else?
- Were the changes all positive?
- Were any of them unexpected?
- What did you want to happen?
- How did your situation/ circumstances affect your experience?
A starting point for questions related to wellbeing is to look at the What Works Centre for Wellbeing website .
As you start to measure wellbeing directly from the people affected, one set of questions it is important to consider is the ONS4 – the national measures for subjective wellbeing in the UK which asks the following 4 questions on a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 is ‘not at all’ and 10 is ‘completely’:
- Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
- Overall, to what extent do you feel that the things that you do in your life are worthwhile?
- Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?
- On a scale where 0 is ‘not at all anxious’ and 10 is ‘completely anxious’, how anxious did you feel yesterday overall?
You could also consider other data gathering activities, including direct observation, or focus groups.
Support in developing your Gold survey approach is available through the Measure Up partners, so please do reach out to Impact, State of Life or PRD.
Where does this value come from?
The Gold level value will come from your own data from your stakeholders. Through aligning to validated questions in national data sets it is possible to adjust your value estimations based on actual evidence and increase your confidence in your value claim reporting.
Guidance on what questions to use is included in Measure Up.
For more support in doing your Gold level practice speak to State of Life, Impact or PRD directly.
WWD1
Currently Having a Job
Employment
What we do
Gold+
Effort
Accuracy
Monetised value:
Adjust monetised value by discounting based on counterfactual, and other discount factors
At the Gold+ level, you are building on your Gold value calculation by assessing the value against the counterfactual, or ‘what would have happened anyway’.
To do this you should identify a control group suitable to assess in line with your intervention, in order to more accurately attribute any changes to your intervention.
You could also consider any other discount or causality elements linked to your job creation activity. For example, with employment related interventions it can be particularly important to consider displacement, as someone getting in to work could displace someone else getting in to work, or substitution, with other employees being fired to make room for the new employees. If your intervention is place based, then it could be important to also consider ‘leakage’ looking at how much the effects ‘leaks out’ of the target area into other areas. This is useful from the perspectives of Councils or Local Authorities for example who may be interested in understanding the impact of initiatives on their own constituents in the first instance.
Support in developing your Gold+ counterfactual, causality and discount approach is available through the Measure Up partners, so please do reach out to Impact, State of Life or PRD.
| Value Type: | Master outcome |
What's this?
This is the type of value. Some values are outcomes, which means many different interventions might lead to them, others are specific interventions that have a set value. |
|---|---|---|
| UN SDG Categories: |
|
What's this?
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are global goals adopted in 2015 for all signed up nations to achieve for us to have a sustainable global future by 2030. There are 17 Goals that address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030. |
| PN06/20 Categories: |
|
What's this?
PPN 06/20 Taking account of social value in the award of central government contracts introduced the Central Government Social Value Model in 2020 which all Central Government contracting authorities must use in their in scope procurements. It consists of 5 themes, 8 policy outcomes, and 24 Model Award Criteria which outline key priority areas to achieve more social value. |
Evidence
Measure Up focuses on empowering you to numerically measure the impact you’re having. We recommend that numeric reports are backed up with stories and other types of evidence to help illustrate, in human terms, the impact that’s being made on individuals.
We recommend seeking consent from participants in your intervention to collect and tell their story. This should include a little background on the participant, a summing up of life before the intervention, the human impact of the intervention, and the longer term (if known) impact on the person’s life outside of, and after, the intervention.
Providing photographs, audio recordings, video interviews or even artefacts from the intervention (for example, writing, paintings, music from creative interventions) can add more to the story, and convey the emotional impact of interventions more directly.
In some cases it’s appropriate to anonymise or abbreviate the personal information of case study participants. No story should be published or shared without the recorded consent of the individual(s) it concerns. Individuals continue to own the rights to their stories and if they request you stop sharing the story or making it available online you should do so promptly and without need for justification.
Feedback
Measure Up is an open, collaborative and transparent. If you have any suggestions or feedback on our pragmatic, recommended approach to measuring and valuing social value, including wellbeing, economic, and fiscal impact, and effects on our environment, please get in touch so we can share and discuss this at our next Advisory Group meeting.
More help
We want to empower anyone to perform and improve their impact measurement – without needing a degree in economics.
If you need any more help, or just someone to do the legwork for you we can help signpost you to software, training, consultancy, and strategic support to help you get to grips with the impact you’re having.
