performance measurement

Inspiring impact: the code of good impact practice

Inspiring Impact is a programme that aims to change the way the UK voluntary sector thinks about impact and make high-quality impact measurement the norm for charities and social enterprises by 2022.

This guide provides broad, agreed guidelines for focusing on impact. It sets out a cycle of impact practice and a series of high level principles to follow. Each principle includes a brief description of how impact practice would look if it was applying the principle, an explanation of why it is important and some ideas about how to implement it.

Making an impact: impact measurement among charities and social enterprises in the UK

Report that provides the first representative picture of the charity sector’s response to the challenge of impact measurement, building on the insights of previous research.

It surveyed charities with incomes over £10,000, asking them whether they measured their impact, how this had changed and why, what they were actually doing to measure impact, and what the barriers were to making progress in future.

Performance differences across local authorities

Paper that comes in two parts. First Lesley Sutton shares her experience in looking at (some) data on local authority spend and performance in a few sectors. This is undertaken on the basis of published data, and the annex describes the key data sets that are available and touches upon the significant gaps. Her work does point to a major variation in performance but also emphasises that this is a data and policy minefield; great care should be taken before drawing any conclusions as to relative efficiencies, etc.

Dual practice regulatory mechanisms in the health sector : a systematic review of approaches and implementation

The International Centre for Systematic Reviews on Human Resources for Health, Makerere University School of Public Health, working with the EPPI-Centre in London, conducted a systematic review to assess the different regulatory mechanisms employed to deal with dual practice and the effect of these mechanisms on health worker performance. The review aimed at synthesizing the dual practice regulatory mechanisms proposed and implemented worldwide and to document factors key to their implementation, either barriers or facilitators and some of their reported outcomes.

SCIE position paper 09: developing measures for effective service user and carer participation

This paper presents the process and outcomes of research in to service user and carer participation in developing social care services. This research was charged not with evaluating the impact of participation, but with scoping what is know about it and how evaluations are being conducted. Briefing paper published by Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in June 2007.

Looked-after children: third report of session 2008-09: volume II: oral and written evidence

Provides the detailed oral and written evidence presented to the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee session on looked after children. The session aimed to investigate the performance of the care system in England, consider whether the Governments proposals for reform were soundly based, and to find out whether the Care Matters programme would be effective in helping looked after children. A summary of the findings are provided in Volume I.

Measuring what matters : key indicators for the development of evidence-based employment services

Paper providing a set of key performance indicators to help local mental health and employment services to monitor employment outcomes and identify development priorities for people in contact with specialist mental health services. The indicators were developed after consultation with a group of stakeholders and tested across 17 sites with NHS and voluntary sector providers and local commissioners.