Shifting the Dial: From wellbeing measures to policy practice

Article

This joint IPPR North and Carnegie UK Trust report explores how to put wellbeing measures into policy practice here in the UK, and explains why GDP alone is not a sufficient measurement on how society should progress.

At UK, devolved and local authority level, there is interest in the question of wellbeing. This year the ONS published the UK's first annual subjective welbeing data, and it is due to publish its Wellbeing State of the Nation report later this year.

But there are a number of countries that are ahead of the UK in this thinking. Not only are they more advanced in terms of how to measure and analyse wellbeing, but they have experience of using these measures to inform shape policy thinking and implementation. Ultimately what policymakers measure will only matter if it influences how public policy is designed and delivered.

This report offers key lesson on how to ensure wellbeing measures matter in the policymaking progress. It draws on international experience focusing on: France, Canada (the Canadian Index of Wellbeing; Vital Signs Toronto, led by the Toronto Community Foundation; the city of Guelph) and the United States (the state of Virginia and the city of Somerville).

Related items

  1. Doctor with patient for consultation, medical advice or procedure at clinic

    Taken to heart: Inequalities in heart disease in Scotland

    More than 7.6 million people across the UK live with cardiovascular disease (CVD), around twice as many as live with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer combined. 
  2. A beautiful sunset in the Scottish highlands with renewable energy wind turbines far into the horizon

    Skills passports: An essential part of a fair transition

    This month, government will publish its Clean Energy Workforce Strategy. This plan covers two aims. First, filling the growing demand for skills in clean energy industries is essential to keep on track to reach the government’s clean power…
  3. The Bank of England is watched over by a statue of the Duke of Wellington seated on his horse

    Fixing the leak: How to end the £22 billion annual taxpayer losses at the Bank of England

    The Bank of England increased its interest rates over recent years, aimed at reducing inflation. But this has also had an unintended effect on the Bank of England’s massive government bond buying – ‘quantitative easing’ – programme.