At the World Wellbeing Movement (WWM), we believe the Budget matters because of the opportunity it provides to improve the wellbeing of people across the UK. It cannot just be a spreadsheet exercise. Creating a strong economy is essential, but it is not the end destination. The overall goal should be a measurably happier UK – that is our test for the Budget.

How can the UK transition to a new, wellbeing economy?

1. Go beyond GDP to put wellbeing first

GDP is a valuable, albeit limited, metric for assessing the performance of the UK economy. However, it tells us nothing about how people feel about their lives. We have failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels of wellbeing, and 7 million UK people live in happiness poverty. There is also a crisis in youth wellbeing.

Recommendation: A new Annual Wellbeing Statement should be introduced to shine a spotlight on wellbeing statistics, just as the Budget focusses on traditional economic metrics like GDP.

2. Make wellbeing an economic strategy

There is increasing evidence to show the benefits of prioritising employee wellbeing as a lever for boosting performance and productivity – as well as it being morally right – and tools to support effective interventions.

Recommendation: the Government should work proactively with businesses to measure wellbeing across the economy and promote action on the drivers of workplace wellbeing.

3. Utilise wellbeing guidance to deliver value for money

The Treasury’s own Green Book supplementary guidance on wellbeing provides a robust approach for assessing policies based upon their effect on wellbeing, but it is used in a limited and inconsistent way.

Recommendation: The Chancellor should write to all departments ahead of the Spending Review requiring the use of wellbeing guidance in their proposals, with training and support provided.

Header Image: © Copyright Kirsty O’Connor / Treasury via Flickr