Social Value UK

Topic: Crime and anti-social behaviour

Report on Social Value created by Offploy in 2023

“This research was commissioned by Offploy CIC and conducted by Bean Research. It forms part of a project to understand how the organisation creates social value, what its social return on investment is, and the development of a toolkit to support the wider rehabilitation sector in measuring and reporting the difference it makes.

Offploy supports people at risk of offending and re-offending, empowering them to access greater opportunities and achieve their full potential. They focus on tangible opportunities, such as skills development and access to resources, alongside tackling the mindset and self-belief challenges that individuals face.

This project was conducted through quantitative and qualitative research, using the Social Value International (SVI) Principles as a guide to make decisions and to take into account the broader definition of value. The specific focus of the social valuation was on the Candidates who participated in the programme. Offploy Candidates were actively involved as those affected by the programme, so their experiences have been respected, and their voices influence the process.

This research project and report show that Offploy creates significant value to society through its work with Candidates, generating outcomes based on the development of financial capability, employability and vocational skills, a more positive mindset, and employment opportunities.

Overall, the research shows that Offploy has generated just over £7 million of social value through their activities in 2023. When factoring in the investment required, this means the Social Return on Investment (SROI) ratio is £1: £12.09, although based on further sensitivity analysis, this should be more truly shown as a range between £1: £9.20-£15.30.

Our analysis shows that the largest contribution to social value is the increased positive mindset of Candidates created through working with Offploy, measured by an increase in scores of wellbeing. This accounts for 37% of the overall social value.

Offploy is keen to use the research to provide greater insight into how to better support its Candidates and create the most social value for them. Through this research, Offploy has been working with the researchers to not just understand how and how much social value is created but to develop the tools, systems and understanding to conduct future social value measurement themselves.

In addition, Offploy is keen to go one step further and share these systems and processes with the rest of the sector, as well as the details behind the valuations, causality, and sensitivity assumptions made. Our joint hope is that this report is the first step in the journey.”

30/05/2024
YMCA Black Country Wren’s Nest Navigator Project Forecast of the Social Return on Investment

“The evaluators were commissioned to complete an evaluation of the Wren’s Nest Navigator Project.

The project aims to reduce crime and ASB on the estate, reduce unemployment and increase educational attainment, increase individual resilience and generally raise the skills and aspirations of estate residents by working with individuals and families via a combination of buddying, mentoring, physical and online activities and support.

The project outputs were to support 120 individuals per year. The activities planned aimed to support adults and children and young people to overcome barriers and increase their resilience the project aims to reduce entrenched worklessness, improve independent living skills, improve quality of life and raise aspirations for the benefit of future generations.

…for every £1 invested in the Wren’s Nest Navigator Project, there is £3 of social value returned so far.“

16/01/2023
Social Return on Investment Evaluation Recycling Lives Charity

Recycling Lives Charity & Social Enterprise is an organisation based in Preston and serving the North West of England. It delivers three specific programmes of offender support and food redistribution.

The Recycling Lives offender rehabilitation programme works with ex-offenders both in prison and in the community. By supporting men and women to improve their skills, confidence, and resilience and secure good jobs, it significantly reduces reoffending rates. The residential programme supports men experiencing homelessness. Offering personalised support, access to training and work placements and safe, stable accommodation, it supports men to regain their independence, moving into work and a home of their own. The food redistribution programme aims to tackle food poverty while preventing food waste. Working in partnership with FareShare it takes surplus stock from food retailers and redistributes this to communities, feeding people in need.

28/01/2022
Taiwan Drug Free World Association Social Return on Investment Report

Since founded in 2015, the Taiwan Drug Free World Association (the Association) has been committed to anti-drug education and promotion in honor of the belief in “prevention is better than cure.” The Anti-drug Lecturer Training Program offers intensive 8 hours training. The program combines both theory and practice and enables trainees to be capable of providing a 40-minute speech on stage to teenagers or any target audience despite their lack of experience in the beginning. It is our hope that through these anti-drug lecturers, anti-drug education will continue to be disseminated, from the north to the south, from communities where housewives are trained to companies and corporations where the sales representatives and administrators are trained, and to even military officers and legal affairs staff at military bases. Within just a couple of months, the number of trainees who have completed the program grew to several hundreds. Such an influence went viral over a few years. The Association, however, hopes to take advantage of more substantial and quantified data to help with continuous advancement in the planning and implementation of the “Anti-drug Lecturer Training Program”. This is why the Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology is introduced to review them.

This study adopts the SROI methodology to review the social impacts of the Anti-drug Lecturer Training Program between 2016 and 2018 from the perspective of stakeholders. Through interviews and questionnaires, it was found that trainees not only learned how to give an anti-drug speech but also had significantly grown in their awareness about drugs and hence were able to turn them down. In addition, the program helped enhance their ability to communicate and express themselves, boost their self-confidence, and increase their attachment to their work. The enterprise they belong would also have an improved corporate image. Additionally, the cost of educational training for employees and the operational cost were reduced.

Changes for students, by the same token, include increased health awareness and increased sense of attachment to their school. With the above-mentioned outcomes and input combined, we calculated and obtained the result that for each New Taiwan dollar invested, it would create social value worth around NT$6.67. The sensitivity analysis results were between 5.33 and 15.46. We also discussed these results and get the feedback from stakeholders during the research with the Taiwan Drug Free World Association to optimize improvement plans. It is our hope that with constant advancement and joint efforts, the social impacts may be maximized through the Anti-drug Lecturer Training Program to turn Taiwan to be the first drug-free island and purified land.

26/03/2020
Reducing Youth Crime in Ireland: An Evaluation of Le Chéile Mentoring

In 2015 Le Chéile Mentoring and Youth Justice Support Services commissioned this evaluation to assess the impact of Le Chéile’s mentoring services for young people who offend and their parents/carers, looking at a range of potential outcomes for both groups. Le Chéile also commissioned an assessment of the social return on investment.

A range of stakeholders took part in the evaluation, including young people and parents who were mentored, volunteer mentors, Probation and Le Chéile staff and other significant professionals.

The research methodology comprised both qualitative and quantitative methods, including face-to-face or phone interviews, focus groups, surveys and case file analysis.

The evaluation found that young people who were mentored by Le Chéile come from a variety of backgrounds. The outstanding common feature is of course that they have committed an offence and appeared before the courts. This marks Le Chéile mentees as different from mentees under other programmes in Ireland and internationally. The mentees share many features found among young offenders generally, for example, impulsivity, indifferent attitudes to offending, negative peer group influence, poor school attendance, poor supervision, and alcohol and drug use.

11/12/2018
The Cornwall Exchange: A Social Return on Investment (SROI) Report

This report presents a forecast SROI calculation of a project undertaken by Essential Living Future in 2016. This intervention engaged NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) in a residential trip to Cornwall, known as the Cornwall Exchange, which widened their experience and furnished them with the confidence and aspiration to enter employment or training.

We have chosen to embark on an SROI calculation due to the holistic and rigorous approach it takes to measuring impact. This method measures tangible, participant-endorsed changes to create a well-rounded analysis of an intervention. Through providing financial proxies for social, economic and environmental outcomes, organisations can understand what their true impact is. This allows us to improve on delivering positive outcomes, rather than being focused on getting young people through a “treadmill training” which does not cater for their needs.

SROI reveals a more effective way of analysing our approach to unlocking young people’s potential by focusing on their individual strengths and weaknesses, what is important to them and facilitating an environment where these changes can happen.

11/12/2018
Impact evaluation and Social Return on Investment Analysis of The Green House therapeutic service for children and young people who have experienced sexual abuse

Research shows an estimated 1 in 20 children have experienced some form of sexual abuse and nearly half a million adults in England and Wales are sexually assaulted each year. These experiences cause severe trauma and deep physical, emotional and psychological stress with major implications for children’s health, development and life chances. Adverse consequences of sexual abuse can include acute feelings of betrayal, powerlessness, stigmatisation, guilt and traumatic sexualisation as well as difficulties forming and maintaining relationships, mental health related problems resulting from trauma and physical health problems.

Sexual abuse has a far-reaching impact on society as well: child sexual abuse is estimated to cost more than £3.2bn per year, made up of costs relating to mental health and adult physical health problems from alcohol and drug misuse, criminal justice costs, children’s social care and loss of productivity to society through unemployment or reduced earnings.

The Green House is Bristol’s only provider of specialist therapy for child victims of sexual abuse. They serve families from within Bristol and across the surrounding counties who commit to traveling huge distances to access specialist help, with over half of referrals originating outside of Bristol. The therapeutic support provides a safe place for children and young people to process their experiences and begin to move forward with their lives.

This Impact Evaluation and Social Return on Investment Analysis report explores the wider impact of The Green Children’s Therapy Service, which includes therapeutic support to children and young people as well as practical and emotional support sessions for parents and carers. The analysis evaluates the impact and social value delivered in the year 1st April 2016 – 31st March 2017. During this period there were 101 referrals into the service and 27 individuals who started and completed therapy with planned endings during this period.

11/12/2018
Social Return on Investment Report of Criminon Project

The Association for No Crime, R.O.C. was established in 2009 with the purpose “to bring together different sectors and personages in promoting drug rehab education, promoting learning technologies, assisting with crime prevention, and correcting the values of criminals, so as to elevate the character of citizens, reduce crime, and promote a harmonious society.” The association mainly provides Criminon Program to prison inmates, and uses course arrangements to sequentially help each inmate face difficulties in their past, present, and future. This way, inmates have ways to handle obstacles they encounter in life, and to regain and rebuild their self-respect, so that they become capable citizens when they return to society in the future.

We further adopted a commonly used methodology for evaluating social impact, Social Return On Investment (SROI), in 2017, to examine the results and effects of Criminon Program more comprehensively and in-depth, which examinations then provide a basis for future program planning and improvement. This program analyzes students that received training in Tainan, Pingtung, and Changhua Prisons from 2015 to 2017. We identified a number of rich outcomes after in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys of stakeholders, such as: Students that took the programs gained better reading abilities, and the content of the courses helped them improve their relationships with their families and also increased their senses of identity. More importantly, students were less likely to become repeat offenders, resulting in a lower recidivism rate. Instructors were inspired by the positive changes among students, and they gained higher learning motivation, making them willing to engage in lifelong learning with related courses, and even pursue further education to have a greater impact on students.

We compiled a list of abstract outcomes and determined their monetized value. On this basis, we calculated that every NT$1 input by this program will generate NT$6.30 in social value. If uncertain factors are taken into consideration for sensitivity analysis, the result will be in the range NT$4.38-11.73. We used findings from statistics of outcomes and observations during implementation of the SROI project as a basis for improving the program. For example, we considered how to achieve the purpose and effect of project management by having students who were released share their experiences, adjusting the student recruitment structure, encouraging students to continue reading and learning after class, and strengthening contact with students after program. We hope to more effectively allocate and manage our limited resources, and also increase the social value generated by the Criminon Program.

24/08/2018
Refuge: A Social Return on Investment Evaluation

“Refuge is the UK’s largest single provider of specialist support for survivors of violence against women and girls (VAWG), supporting over 3,800 women, children and men on any given day.

Refuge’s network of services operates nationally across 53 local authority boroughs and district and county councils, and includes more than 40 refuges. Refuge also runs independent domestic violence advocacy services; culturally-specific services – including programmes for Vietnamese women and Eastern European women ; community outreach programmes; and single-point-of-access services – which act as the first point of contact for anybody experiencing gender-based violence across the whole of a local authority area. The National Domestic Violence Helpline is run by Refuge in partnership with Women’s Aid and receives more than 200 calls every day. In addition, Refuge runs award winning pro bono prevention and awareness raising campaigns.”

12/04/2017
St Giles Trust Creating social value and building social capital

“St Giles Trust is a charity which aims to break the cycle of prison, crime and disadvantage. It offers a range of services, both in prison and in the community, which aim to help the 16,000 clients they work with each year overcome any barriers which might be holding them back from moving their lives forward in a positive way. St Giles Trust stands out by placing prisoners and ex-offenders at the heart of the solution, engaging them to advise their peers while simultaneously providing them with training.”

24/03/2017
Right-Sizing Justice: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Imprisonment in Three States

19/10/2016