How Should We Measure Financial Capability Outcomes?

1. How Should We Measure Financial Capability Outcomes? Phil Carroll Financial Inclusion Officer United Welsh Housing Association

2. Purpose of Session • Establish the worth of outcome-based projects • Examine different models for monitoring outcomes • Gather thoughts and ideas on how we can effectively demonstrate outcomes of FC work

3. Outcomes vs Outputs • Outcome – “something that follows from an action, dispute, situation, etc.; result; consequence” • Output – “the act of turning out; production: the quantity or amount produced” An outcome is the impact of the intervention, it gives meaning to what has been produced

4. Hard and Soft Outcomes • “Hard” Outcomes – quantitative achievement against pre-set targets, recorded once completed • “Soft” Outcomes – intangible, harder to measure. Reflect changes in attitude, behaviour, confidence. Recorded as progress during a project. They are not mutually exclusive – they can be achieved in turn, or in tandem

5. Why so Important? • Funding • Balances the needs of different stakeholders • Increased accountability • Enables greater sharing of good practice • Learning for future projects

6. “The Bigger Picture” • FC contribution towards a larger project or target • Organisational or “top-down” measures • Outcomes can be hard to identify – do they become outputs? Example – FC work with Cardiff hostel residents

7. “Describe and Observe” • Statistic based • Describes actions not impacts – based on assumptions • Easiest to measure “30 advice surgeries were held in the last quarter” “attendance at financial education sessions increased by 20% last year”

8. “Citizen-Centric” • Client focussed and defined outcomes • Soft outcomes – monitoring the changes in financial capability over time • The idea of “distance travelled” • Can lead to wider hard outcomes • See St Mungo’s Star

9. Considerations • Project purpose and funding • Resource • Client engagement level

10. Over to You!