SWAN Executive Summary

[Funded by the Corston Coalition]

Social Return on Investment Report for SWAN

Harriette Boyden, CEO Relate Northumberland and Tyneside Katie Wheatley SWAN Coordinator, Northumberland

1. Executive Summary The Corston Coalition has commissioned nef consulting to help the Ministry of Justice Women’s Centre Projects (WCS) develop an outcomes framework to understand the impact of the WCS on individual women and the wider community. Using the principles of measuring what matters1 and drawing on the Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology, this report presents the theories of change for Northumberland WCS, Support for Women Around Northumberland (SWAN) .

SWAN is a Women’s Community Service which received funding from the Ministry of Justice under the Diverting Women from Custody Programme. The objectives of SWAN are to reduce the reoffending of female offenders or those at risk of offending through providing a range of diversionary and preventative interventions.

Between February and November 2010 a total of 120 women had been referred to SWAN, with 80 women being assessed and 50 women engaged. The project has resulted in a 70% reduction in arrests, a 73 % reduction in the number of charges made by the police and an 81% reduction the number of convictions amongst engaged female offenders. There had also been a 72% reduction in appearance before magistrates.

However, this is not the whole picture. It does not describe all of the value that SWAN has delivered. This research into the Social Return on Investment has allowed us to better understand and represent the changes that occurred as a result of SWAN’s activities. The Theory of Change is fundamental to the story explaining the impact of our service.

We have taken a multi-stakeholder approach and measured and valued both outcomes for women and those for the state. In the past, reporting the later has often been our focus, partly because of funding drivers. We believe that delivering the outcomes that women most value ensures that further change can occur and is therefore a fundamental part of the change journey. Thus, being able to communicate and, more-over, report that value to commissioners and funders allows them to make better decisions about the kind of services that will be effective.

As practitioners we understand that changes in an individual woman are the initial result of our centres, programmes and initiatives. As individuals change and that change becomes more perceptible, this impacts socially and economically. For example if an individual increases their skills for employability, their income will be greater and poverty rates may decrease. Individual impacts are often not seen by outside agencies as the building blocks of our community change. If individuals change it can result in community change. When the state e.g. local government and institutions like the police and National Health Service begin to notice visible, positive changes such as reduced crime or lower admittance to A&E for substance use, then sectors like the women’s sector can be firm in the conviction that they have influenced and levered change.

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Lawlor, E et al (2008) Measuring Value: a Guide to Social Return on Investment (SROI) (London:nef)

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The SROI method – we asked:  

   

What is the change that occurred? And …

How much change occurred? And for how long? i.

We identified outcomes and outcome indicators for the women and the state and measured them over time (using questionnaires for women and data from the PNC for the state). Our Theory of Change and Impact Map illustrate the impact of our work more clearly than we have ever done before.

What would have happened anyway?

What change must be attributed to others?

What problems have been displaced by our work? i.

These three calculations make our findings extremely robust and realistic What is the value of that change? i.

This is where we have applied proxies to calculate the value of our outcomes.

Proxies allow us to value the outcomes that we have always known in the sector are important but are those which have no traditional market value for eg well-being. The SROI method looks for proxies for these outcomes. There are things which have well established market prices, such as private healthcare and gym membership. SROI uses these market values to approximate the value of the outcomes most traditionally undervalued, currency of the third sector.

Findings The SROI produces a ratio of investment in and value out. Whilst the ratio is indicative of the cost effectiveness of SWAN’s work and incites discussion, it is only one measurement against which decisions should be made. Undertaking a SROI and therefore challenging assumptions and making an organisation open to scrutiny is a valuable process in and of itself.

Bringing the total benefits extrapolated to all stakeholders and the total investment over 12 months together and placing them in net present value terms, the Social Return on Investment ratio for SWAN is 1:6.65. This means that for every £1 invested in SWAN’s activities, £6.65 of social and economic value is created for beneficiaries. Therefore the £160,000 invested created £1,064,000 SROI. The value for women was greater than that produced for the state. For women, £748,699 and the state £314,662.

Next steps We have learned a lot about how to calculate the Social Return on Investment. It has given us a method and language to communicate with commissioners and funders about what works and why.

Our challenge is to increase the opportunities to talk to others about this work and to embed it in our organisations. Our findings highlight the importance of what women value and communicate it with equal status with outcomes for the state, that which we are so used to valuing in £s. The risk of not doing so is that, as commissioning increases and the relative freedom of grant funding becomes extinct, the knowledge and experience of the Women’s Community Services will not be included in commissioning decisions and long-term poor outcomes for women will result.

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