Policy tools to help you think through how to improve the outcomes that matter to people’s lives.
How can this help you?
This draft set of tools and frameworks supports you to think through impact on people’s lives at different stages of public policy development and delivery. They have been developed in workshops with a wide range of types of teams in public, private and civil society sectors.
What is wellbeing?
Wellbeing is based on the principles of wellbeing economics – how can the government improve social welfare, social or public value in line with HM Treasury’s Green Book.
Wellbeing is how we’re doing, as individuals, communities and a nation and how sustainable it is for the future. It is a big topic and covers all aspects of life. The evidence comes from many areas. This document brings together a range of ways to help understand how you can apply wellbeing evidence in public policy and projects.
Download a short introduction to wellbeing and the data and measures that are particularly useful in the UK.
How can you use these tools?
They are simple exercises to explore a policy area, action plan, strategy or service from the perspective of the wellbeing of those who will be affected by it and your contribution to national or community wellbeing. You can make them as detailed as you like, with or without detailed impact numbers and costs, depending on the stage you’re at or the type of project you’re looking at. These can be conducted in a workshop or as a short desk-research exercise. They can help to explore, appraise and enhance the social impact of policy options.
The aim is to help you think through an issue in wellbeing terms, in line with HMT Green Book and other existing models you’ll be familiar with depending on your context and work area. It will help to:
- Bring fresh perspectives & new ideas
- Focus on human and community impact
- Promote integration & joining-up
- Consider short and long term impacts
- Explore early intervention/prevention