Beat works across the UK providing information, support, and self-help groups to help people beat eating disorders.

Beat wanted to support their campaign work with information on costs of eating disorders in England, and approached PBE for help. We introduced the charity to John Henderson, a volunteer economist from the Department of Health, whose report has shed light on this issue.

The report can be found by clicking here

More information about the charity can be found on the Beat website.

Toynbee Hall is based in Tower Hamlets, one of the most deprived boroughs in the UK, and aims to eradicate poverty in the local area and beyond. Their Safe Exit project looks to reduce the scale of street-based prostitution and improve the lives of those involved.

Hoping to understand how to demonstrate the benefits of this programme, Toynbee Hall approached us for assistance.

We are grateful to Chris Peacock from the Bank of England who gave his time and expertise to this project.

A summary of the project can be found by clicking here

More information about the charity can be found on the Toynbee Hall website

Shelter works to alleviate the distress caused by homelessness and bad housing through providing advice and information, and campaigning for political change to end the housing crisis.

Shelter approached us to find an economist who could offer some input to their work building an economic case for investment in housing.

Our volunteer economist Robert Carver considered the constraints to housing delivery since 2008. His findings suggest that the decline in house building is due to the depressed level of final demand for new homes rather than constraints in the planning system. Robert presented his findings at Shelter’s Housing and the Economy roundtable event in October, informing discussion among leading economists from a broad range of fields on the role housing supply can play in stimulating national economic growth.

The report can be read here

For more information about Shelter and its work, visit the Shelter website.

We are grateful to Robert Carver for his time and hard work in delivering this report.

NCB is a national charity which supports children, young people and families and those who work with them, across England and Northern Ireland. Their Young Inspectors programme recruited and trained disadvantaged young people to inspect and report on services in their areas. The initiative aimed to provide opportunities for marginalised young people to improve services and enable change in their communities.

A team of economists from Europe Economics, looking at an evaluation of the Young Inspectors programme, investigated how far it is possible to quantify the economic costs and benefits of the programme, and identify other resulting benefits.

The full report can be read here
NCB’s own evaluation of the Young Inspectors programme can be found here

For more information about NCB and its work, visit the NCB website.

We are grateful to the team at Europe Economics – Jonathan Green, Deborah Kelly and Sarah Shannon – for their hard work in delivering this report.

Barnardo’s is the UK’s leading children’s charity. One of its most crucial areas of work is in providing services for young people who have been sexually exploited: from apparently ‘consensual’ relationships and informal exchanges of sex for gifts, accommodation etc., through to serious organised crime.

Barnardo’s aims to identify and support young people at risk of sexual exploitation. Its services provide an environment for young people to get help and support, and offer a range of therapeutic interventions including counselling, group-work sessions and drop-in support. Services also raise awareness of child sexual exploitation in their local areas: working with schools and others to deliver preventative education programmes and providing specialist training to professionals so they know what signs to look out for.

The charity approached Pro Bono Economics for help in looking how at effective these interventions are and the wider impact they may have.

A team from the Bank of England – Greg Thwaites, Amar Radia and Mervyn Tang – looked at the extent to which Barnardo’s interventions reduce the risk of sexual exploitation (and associated risk factors), and estimated the possible savings to the taxpayer resulting from these interventions.

Click here to read the full report

Click here for more information about the methodology used

Key findings from the report can be found here in a briefing from Barnardo’s

Click here for the press release for this report

For more information about Barnardo’s and its work, particularly in the area of child sexual exploitation, visit the Barnardo’s website

We are grateful to the Bank of England team for their hard work on this project and to Barnardo’s, and Laura Blazey in particular, for their commitment and dedication.

St Basils works with young people aged 16 to 25 across Birmingham and North Worcestershire, providing supported accommodation and support services including: housing aid and advice; family mediation; learning skills; advice and guidance on education, employment and training; and resettlement and floating support. St Basils approached PBE for advice on better measuring the impact of its work.

A summary of the project can be found by clicking here

More information about the charity can be found on the St Basils website

Greenhouse empowers young people in London’s disadvantaged communities to realise their potential through sport and dance programmes.

The charity approached PBE to do an economic evaluation of their programmes. We introduced them to a team of volunteers who work for the National Audit Office and have just completed the first phase of the work.

This takes the form of an advice paper to the charity, with proposals to enhance their data collection in the school year 2011-12. The volunteers are planning to use this data to produce an economic evaluation of the Greenhouse programmes in the second phase, which is due to conclude in Autumn 2012.