Alma Economics, 41A Maltby Street, London (2026)

05/08/2026

Looking back on the 2026 Student Social Mobility Awards, hosted by upReach at Drapers' Hall in London last month, we were delighted that our colleagues Nikita Sharma and Katrina Oliver could attend on behalf of Alma Economics.

It was inspiring to hear about the achievements of students and the organisations working to improve social mobility across the UK.

We were amazed to see the impact of upReach's work. As technology continues to reshape the job market, access to opportunities and professional networks is more important than ever. By helping students from less advantaged backgrounds build those connections, upReach is helping to level the playing field.

The impact is clear: upReach Associates are 62% more likely to earn above the UK median salary than peers from similar backgrounds.

Thank you to upReach for a fantastic evening, and congratulations to all the nominees and winners.

04/08/2026

How much should Scotland charge for the right to shoot deer and grouse on private land — and is it worth the administrative cost of collecting it?

The Scottish Land Commission commissioned Alma Economics to assess the impact of reintroducing non-domestic rates for shooting rights and deer forests, following the removal of the exemption under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. The study examined how far the policy broadened the tax base, generated revenue, and produced wider economic effects.

🔍 More than 11,000 shooting-related entries are now on the valuation roll, but the tax base is highly concentrated at the lower end — around 99.4% of entries have a rateable value below £12,000 and would typically qualify for full relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme.
🔍 After reliefs, sporting rates generate approximately £2.2 million in annual net revenue — less than 0.1% of Scotland's total non-domestic rates income.
🔍 Stakeholders raised practical concerns around the complexity of valuing sporting rights, compliance costs, and cash flow pressures — raising a genuine question of proportionality given the modest revenue involved.

The report concludes that while the fiscal contribution is modest, the policy's real significance lies in promoting consistency and fairness across the tax system — and points to opportunities for further research on administrative efficiency and long-term impacts.

Read the full report 👇 (link in comments)

31/07/2026

Understanding whether Welsh-language health and social care services are actually reaching the people who need them starts with the data behind them.

Welsh Government commissioned Alma Economics to review the health and social care data landscape in Wales, assessing how existing data could be used to monitor progress towards the "More Than Just Words" Plan (2022–2027). Our research focused specifically on data relevant to Welsh-language provision — from the Active Offer and bilingual service delivery to workforce Welsh-language ability and the future workforce pipeline.

🔍 We mapped and reviewed the current data landscape, drawing on desk-based research, stakeholder interviews, and engagement with sector organisations.
🔍 We developed a practical indicator framework — 39 indicators across four thematic areas — designed to support meaningful, feasible monitoring using existing and future data.
🔍 We identified key gaps in the current landscape and made 18 recommendations to improve data consistency, completeness, accessibility, and linkage across health, social care, education and workforce sources.

The result: a clearer picture of the existing data landscape and a practical basis for stronger monitoring of Welsh-language provision in health and social care over time.

Read the full report 👇 (link in comments)

28/07/2026

Journalism carries real safety risks in the UK - abuse, threats, and legal intimidation that can affect not just individual wellbeing but the reporting itself, driving self-censorship or people leaving the profession altogether. Yet there's limited up-to-date, systematic evidence on how widespread these risks are and who faces them most.

We were commissioned by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to help close that gap, informing the work of the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists, which brings together government, industry, law enforcement, and civil society to improve protections for journalists.

Our research set out to:

🔍 Quantify how widespread different safety concerns are among UK journalists
🔍 Identify the types of abuse, threats, and legal intimidation journalists face, and when and where they occur
🔍 Examine which journalists are most at risk, by role, demographic characteristics, employment status, and outlet type
🔍 Explore the impact of safety concerns on wellbeing and career decisions
🔍 Assess how and how often incidents are reported, and what gets in the way

We combined a UK-wide survey (531 responses, December 2025–February 2026) with 55 in-depth, trauma-informed interviews with journalists recruited from the survey, giving us both the scale to quantify the problem and the depth to understand it.

Read the full report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-journalist-safety-research-2026

23/07/2026

Alma Economics conducted a process and impact evaluation of the Creative Careers Programme (CCP) for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) - a programme reaching young people at exactly the point where they're deciding whether a creative career is a realistic option for them.

CCP provides young people aged 11 to 24, careers advisers, and schools across England with specialist advice on careers in the creative industries. Following increased funding, DCMS expanded the programme to include three pilot strands alongside an expansion of the core strand.

Our evaluation used a theory-based approach, mapping the causal pathways set out in CCP's Theory of Change and testing the extent to which they have materialised or are on track. Fieldwork included ethnographic observation of programme events, 1:1 interviews, focus groups with children and young people, and feedback survey data.

🔍 CCP is delivering its intended intermediate outcomes either fully or partially, indicating a strong likelihood that longer-term impacts will be delivered

🔍 The programme's decentralised structure enables it to operate effectively at scale

🔍 Programme activities were found to be enjoyable by young people

🔍 Stretched capacity among downstream delivery partners, and a need for longer planning timelines to engage schools, were identified as areas for improvement

For a sector where access often comes down to who you know and what advice reaches you early, evidence on what's working - and what needs fixing - shapes whether that access widens or stays the same.

🔗 Read the full report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-creative-careers-programme-final-report

22/07/2026

Would you like to know how you can complete the analysis of consultation responses 85% faster?

The Department for Education launched the Curriculum and Assessment Review Call for Evidence with 7,021 respondents and 159,047 total responses across 45 consultation questions, and commissioned Alma Economics to conduct the analysis.

Simply reading these responses would have taken 2 months for an 8-person team, and even more for responses to be systematically analysed. To accelerate the process while maintaining the highest quality and compliance standards, our research team integrated our in-house consultation analysis platform, Cobflow. The analysis started with extensive reading and response labelling carried out by trained Alma researchers with deep domain expertise. Cobflow then leveraged the team’s expertise by training AI models to replicate and scale their open-text response labelling. With Cobflow’s powerful automation, we were able to analyse and label responses 85% faster than a fully manual approach and generate a policy-ready report within a couple of months.

Cobflow uses secure AI models that learn from the labels manually assigned by users. It then scales up qualitative analysis across a large volume of responses. Humans stay strictly in control as users verify the accuracy and consistency of the automatically assigned codes. Ethical integrity, statutory and security compliance are upheld at every step of the process.

This enabled us to deliver a robust, high-quality report to the Department for Education with exceptional speed and efficiency, within just a couple of months.

You can read our report here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report

Book a free demo to learn more: https://cobflow.com/contact

21/07/2026

Adult social care is one of the most significant sectors in Cornwall's economy - yet its true value is rarely fully understood.

Our research for Cornwall Council on the economic and social value of the adult social care sector has been published. The work was commissioned to support evidence-based decision-making and clarify the sector's contribution to Cornwall's economy and society, covering care settings from residential and domiciliary to day care, across local authority, private, voluntary, and informal provision.

🔍 Our macroeconomic model estimates the sector's contribution to the Cornish economy, accounting for wages, earnings, and provider operating profits, as well as the wider indirect and induced effects using established impact multipliers.

🔍 Our socioeconomic model captures value that GVA and employment figures miss, including the wellbeing of adults receiving care and peace of mind for the wider population, by comparing current outcomes to a scenario in which adult social care ceases to exist.

🔍 We delivered a detailed report and a public-facing infographic for Cornwall Council, designed to inform policy and reframe social care as an essential social and economic investment, not just a cost.

Read the full report 👇 (link in comments)

17/07/2026

🎮 Our latest research for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) shows how targeted funding is helping power growth in the UK's games industry.

We were previously commissioned by DCMS to evaluate the UK Games Fund, and were re-commissioned to dig deeper into two of its strands: DunDev, which supports early-career teams, and the Content Fund, which helps studios develop and commercialise new games.

🔍 The Content Fund is enabling studios to grow their teams, improve salaries, and attract private investment by reducing risk for investors — helping developers bring higher quality, more commercially viable games to market.

🔍 DunDev is supporting the next generation of talent, giving graduate teams the skills, confidence, and industry connections they need to succeed.

🔍 Every £1 invested in the Content Fund generates approximately £5.10 in benefits, with impact extending across the sector — supporting job creation, unlocking innovation, and strengthening the pipeline of new UK games and IP.

At a time when the games industry faces increasing pressure, the evaluation highlights how targeted public investment can drive sustainable growth, support creative talent, and position the UK as a global leader in games development.

Read the full report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-the-uk-games-fund-final-report

16/07/2026

Earlier this month, our colleagues Pallavi Agrawal and Vidhyarth Natarajan ran a two-part outreach series for high school students at Royal Holloway, University of London - exploring how economics shapes real-world policy.

Vidhyarth kicked things off on 17 June, with Pallavi leading the second session the following week. Over two one-hour sessions, they introduced students to Alma Economics and walked through real case studies from our work, showing how economic analysis helps governments tackle policy challenges and make evidence-based decisions.

A big thank you to RHUL for hosting - and to the students for their enthusiasm and great questions. Inspiring the next generation of economists is always a pleasure.

15/07/2026

We’re pleased to have supported the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) on its Seventh Remit report (2026), helping to inform recommendations on teachers’ and school leaders’ pay in Wales.

Our role was to bring together a wide range of evidence to support independent, balanced recommendations. We looked at workforce data, trends in recruitment and retention and how teachers’ and leaders’ pay compares across Wales and the wider labour market. We also considered the broader economic context, including inflation and earnings growth, alongside evidence from unions, employers and government.

The final report sets out recommendations not only on pay, but also on wider areas such as workload, workforce sustainability and the importance of strengthening the overall “offer” for teachers. A clear message from the evidence is that pay matters, but it is only one part of what makes teaching an attractive and sustainable profession.

This work feeds directly into Welsh Government decision-making and contributes to the longer-term direction of workforce policy in education. It highlights the importance of taking a holistic, evidence-based approach to supporting teachers and school leaders and ultimately improving outcomes for learners across Wales.

🔗 Read the full report via the link in the comments.

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Rydym yn falch o fod wedi cefnogi Corff Adolygu Cyflogau Annibynnol Cymru (CACAC) ar ei Seithfed Adroddiad (2026), gan helpu i lywio argymhellion ar gyflog athrawon ac arweinwyr ysgolion yng Nghymru.

Ein rôl oedd dod â thystiolaeth eang at ei gilydd i gefnogi argymhellion annibynnol a chytbwys. Edrychom ar ddata gweithlu, tueddiadau mewn recriwtio a chadw staff a sut mae cyflog athrawon ac arweinwyr yn cymharu ar draws Cymru a'r farchnad lafur ehangach. Mi wnaethom hefyd ystyried y cyd-destun economaidd ehangach, gan gynnwys chwyddiant a thwf enillion, ochr yn ochr â thystiolaeth gan undebau, cyflogwyr a'r llywodraeth.

Mae'r adroddiad terfynol yn nodi argymhellion nid yn unig ar gyflog, ond hefyd ar feysydd ehangach fel llwyth gwaith, cynaliadwyedd y gweithlu a phwysigrwydd cryfhau'r “cynnig” cyffredinol i athrawon. Neges glir o'r dystiolaeth yw bod cyflog yn bwysig, ond ei bod dim ond yn un rhan o'r hyn sy'n gwneud addysgu yn broffesiwn deniadol a chynaliadwy.

Mae'r gwaith hwn yn cyfrannu'n uniongyrchol at benderfyniadau Llywodraeth Cymru ac yn cyfrannu at bolisi hirdymor y gweithlu mewn addysg. Mae'n tynnu sylw at bwysigrwydd mabwysiadu dull cyfannol sy’n seiliedig ar dystiolaeth er mwyn cefnogi athrawon ac arweinwyr ysgolion, ac yn y pen draw gwella canlyniadau i ddysgwyr ar draws Cymru.

🔗 Darllenwch yr adroddiad llawn drwy'r ddolen yn y sylwadau.

Alma Economics

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