Health and well-being

Cargo bikes are a leading alternative to petrol and diesel vans, with emerging evidence that they can reduce congestion, improve business efficiency, and support the  development of more liveable and healthier cities. 

Bikes for Business is an innovative programme promoting cargo bikes as a mainstream solution for business freight in London Bridge and north Southwark. 

This report presents evaluation findings and learnings for future cargo bike promotion.

This analysis compares the social, environmental and economic impacts of diesel and electric vans with e-cargo bikes. It finds that diesel vans are 67 times more environmentally damaging when air, water and noise pollution as well as climate change are taken into consideration. When these environmental costs are combined with social costs, the report finds that the hidden costs associated with diesel van deliveries are £2.46 billion annually in London alone. 

Yet e-cargobikes are more expensive than vans on a like-for-like basis, incentivising consumers and businesses towards the least sustainable option. The research, commissioned by Team London Bridge and funded by Impact on Urban Health, explores the reasons for this and provides an estimate of fair pricing were a level playing field to exist between e-cargobikes and diesel vans. 

This economic analysis of salmon farming reveals that the industry has produced negative externalities worth in the region of USD$47 billion since 2013. 

Discover/Recover is a preventative mental health project aimed at school children. This evaluation found it to be effective in improving mental health literacy and help-seeking behaviour, and reducing stigma.

In 2017, Britain was in the grip of a housing and homelessness crisis and London boroughs such as Haringey experienced alarming increases in the numbers of people sleeping rough in the preceeding years. In response, Haringey Council, St. Mungo’s and Thames Reach began delivering a two-year programeme to improve outcomes for rough sleepers.  The HRSP was only one of several pots of funding aimed at tackling rough sleeping during this period, which (along with policy changes affecting rought sleepers) made attribution of outcomes to the programme challenging. Nonetheless, data show a 40% reduction in rough sleeping to November 2018, which was sustained over the following 12 months. despite significant implementation challenges, positive outcomes were reported from the HRSP workstreams. Recommendations focused on the need for better programme scoping and planning to preempt implementation challenges. 

Since 2013, there is evidence that Kellogg's has been removing key mirconutrients from its breakfast cereals in Mexico. This report makes an economic assessment of the savings to Kelloggs and compares this to the cost to the health, well-being and development of Mexican society. It estimates that Kellogg’s saved $85 million USD over five years from this practice, whilst the minimum cumulative social cost to Mexico for the removal of just three key nutrients will be $250 million USD over five years. This means for every dollar that Kellogg’s saves by de-fortifying cereals it destroys at least three dollars in value to Mexican consumers. The report discusses the implications of this for Mexican society.

Youth Work Ireland (YWI) is the largest youth organization in Ireland. YWI uses an innovative Integrated Youth Service Model with the aim of ensuring that young people receive a high quality, efficient and effective service that treats them as a ‘whole person’. Just Economics was commissioned by YWI to assess the evidence for both integrated youth work in general and the YWI Integrated Youth Service Model specifically. The study will be published in 2019.

The Technology Enabled Care (TEC) Programme is a £9 million a year Scotland-wide programme designed to increase choice and control in health, well-being and care services. Just Economics was commissioned by the Scottish Government to synthesise and review existing TEC evaluation evidence and provide recommendations for future evaluation activity. 

There is an established need for women-oriented services, particularly in relation to violence, abuse and mental health, and an emerging evidence base on the benefits that gender-sensitive services can bring. The  aim of the Coventry women's partnership is to to improve outcomes for vulnerable women locally by providing a more joined-up, needs-led service across five women's organisations. The project was a three-year pilot funded by the Smallwood Trust and coordinated by the Women's Budget Group. Women reported substantial – and statistically significant – improvements in their mental health, physical health, relationships, finances, debt, legal status and housing. Service staff also reported that increased collaboration, more effective referrals and greater knowledge of partner services had improved the quality of services and, as a result, also outcomes for women.  

Extra Time is a partnership between the Football Foundation, Sport Relief and Age UK that sets out to use the appeal of professional football clubs to engage older people in a range of health-promoting activities. Just Economics supported the Football Foundation to carry out an SROI evaluation of the project. 

This project was one of several partnerships with University College Dublin to explore the impact of ‘missed care’ in community nursing. Just Economics provided support on the economic component of the study, which included estimates of the cost of missed care and the identification of those costs through focus groups with nurses.

CleverCogs™ is a digital care and support system developed by Blackwood Homes and Care. It was designed to increase digital participation in adults receiving care and support packages and enable increased use of technology enabled care. Just Economics was commissioned by Carnegie UK Trust to carry out a mixed methods study to measure changes in outcomes for customers before and after the introduction of the technology. The linked report sets out the key findings from the evaluation. The full evaluation report is available on request.

Funded by Amnesty International and carried out in partnership with other research organisations, this project mapped the mental health needs of young people in secure settings. Just Economics was responsible for reviewing the existing literature and comparing the costs of placements in secure settings with therapeutic alternatives.

Just Economics supported BT to measure the impact of its investments in health and education projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of this, Just Economics was commissioned by BT to carry out a social impact analysis of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems installed in seven medical centres run by the international children’s charity SOS Children’s Villages (and funded by BT) in sub-Saharan Africa.