Beyond Recovery achieves social return on investment of £14.22 for every £1 spent on service delivery.

An independent Social Return on Investment impact assessment by Make an Impact CIC has calculated that Beyond Recovery is one of the most cost effective social enterprises in the country.

What is social return on investment (SROI)?

Social return on investment (SROI) is defined as “a principles-based method for measuring extra-financial value (i.e., environmental and social value not currently reflected in conventional financial accounts) relative to resources invested.” Essentially, it’s an outcomes-based measurement tool that helps organisations to understand and quantify the social, environmental and economic value they are creating, translating these benefits into a financial format. An SROI analysis produces a narrative of how an organisation creates and destroys value in the course of making change in the world, and a ratio that states how much social value (in £) is created for every £1 of investment.

Beyond Recovery’s SROI

Beyond Recovery’s work with prisoners in HMP Onley had eight key outcomes:

  • Reduced violence
  • Reduced verbal abuse
  • Increased positive rewards
  • Reduced anti-social behaviour
  • Improved mental health
  • Reduced disorder
  • Reduced health costs for prisoners
  • Reduced re-offending

Make an Impact CIC analyses how many individuals achieved each of these outcomes and calculated the value of each of these outcome on an individual basis, using internationally reputable standards as shown in the table below:

The cost of delivering the programme was then subtracted from the total of the individual outcomes and it was calculated that Beyond Recovery has already saved statutory agencies nearly £320,000, the equivalent of £5,235 per individual participating in the programme.

Conclusion

Although SROI is an inexact science with different methodologies, a useful benchmark to compare Beyond Recovery’s SROI of £14.22 returned for every £1 spent on helping prisoners at HMP Onley is the universally recognised RAND Corporation assessment that every $1 spent on drug treatment yields $7.48 in savings.

At this rate, Beyond Recovery will have generated over a million pounds worth of social impact by the end of 2018.