Alma Economics

Alma Economics We combine unparalleled analytical expertise with the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly.

07/05/2026

When our Head of Commercial, Valentina San Martino, was asked by her grandma to explain what we do at Alma, she kept it simple...

"We help governments and charities shape good policy — policy that helps people in vulnerable situations, ensures taxpayers' money is spent better and invested in what works best for society."

Across public bodies, international governments, multilateral
organisations and NGOs, that mission is at the heart of everything we do.

Hear why shaping policy through research matters to her. 👇

🔗 Visit the link in the comments to find out more about our work

04/05/2026

☀ More people die of melanoma in the UK than in Australia each year. Yet nearly 9 in 10 cases are preventable, and sunscreen is one of the most effective tools we have.

This and for , we're sharing our research for Melanoma Focus, which modelled the impact of applying a zero-rate VAT on 30+ SPF sunscreens in the UK.

At 20%, sunscreen is currently taxed at the same rate as luxury goods — a barrier that our 2024 research shows has real consequences.

Our analysis found that removing VAT would:
📍 Cut sunscreen prices by ~15%, driving a 23% rise in consumption
📍Help prevent an estimated 5,300 skin cancer cases and 300 deaths per year
📍 Save the NHS £128m in treatment costs — delivering £2.40 back for every £1 spent by 2033
️
Prevention is cheaper than treatment. Our modelling suggests that removing VAT on sunscreen could help thousands of people avoid a cancer diagnosis.

The findings reached beyond the world of policy too, informing a peer-reviewed publication in the British Journal of Dermatology, co-authored by Dr George Bagdatoglou, Deputy Director at Alma Economics (https://academic.oup.com/bjd/article/194/1/167/8294506)

🔗 Read our report for Melanoma Focus via the link in the comments.

🚼 Early years are crucial for children's development and life chances. Every year, £2.4 billion is spent on children und...
30/04/2026

🚼 Early years are crucial for children's development and life chances. Every year, £2.4 billion is spent on children under five in Scotland, yet public spending on Scotland's youngest children has been hard to track, until now.

Alma Economics was commissioned by Nesta's Fairer Start mission to estimate public spending on children aged 0-4 in Scotland — building a replicable methodology across welfare, healthcare, children's services, and early education and childcare ahead of Scotland’s 2026 parliamentary cycle.

The findings suggest:
🔎 Public spending on children aged 0-4 in Scotland amounted to £9,700 per child, or £2.4bn in total in 2022/23.

🔎 Early education and childcare is the largest spending area, at £4,600 per child in 2022/23 (£1.1bn in total), representing 48% of total early years spend.

🔎 Per-child spending held steady at around £7,200 in real terms between 2010/11 and 2019/20, rising to nearly £9,700 in 2022/23.

These findings have clear links to policy choices — from austerity cuts to benefits in the 2010s, the introduction of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP), and the expansion of funded childcare hours. Evidence like this is how we start to understand what investment in children looks like in practice.

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

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⏰ Tight interim reporting deadlines shouldn't derail your project. With Cobflow, they won't. Build presentation-ready, ...
28/04/2026

⏰ Tight interim reporting deadlines shouldn't derail your project.

With Cobflow, they won't. Build presentation-ready, shareable reports from your consultation data in minutes, and share them as websites directly with colleagues and stakeholders.

No formatting headaches. No chasing files. Just clear, accessible data when you need it most.

🔗Visit the link in the comments to find out how Cobflow can change the way you report.

27/04/2026

⚽ What a weekend for the Alma Economics 'Almacticos'!

We proudly took part in the Economics All-Star Cup over the weekend, in support of Cancer Research UK, PBE, Samaritans and Shelter!

A huge thank you to everyone who donated and came out to cheer us on. Finishing in the top half of the table on our debut is something we can all be proud of! ✨

🔗 There's still time to make a donation by visiting the link in the comments!

💻Cyber-attacks have become more sophisticated, more frequent, and—as evidenced by the dramatic shutdown of Marks & Spenc...
24/04/2026

💻Cyber-attacks have become more sophisticated, more frequent, and—as evidenced by the dramatic shutdown of Marks & Spencer in 2025 after being hacked—more of a threat to a business’s bottom line than at any time before.

In order to create security measures that can adequately protect UK businesses, it is essential to understand both the degree and impact of the threat on their Intellectual Property (IP) and knowledge assets.

From operational software that runs the way a company’s products are bought and sold to well-guarded product formulas, IP and knowledge assets may be largely intangible, but they remain some of the most valuable assets a business owns.

Of course, this makes it even more surprising that the overall cost of IP and knowledge asset theft from cyber-attacks in the UK has remained largely unknown.

So just how do you quantify the economic cost of cyber-attacks on the UK economy and businesses?

That’s what we set out to find out.

👉 Swipe to see some surprising numbers.

🔗Visit the link in comments to explore our research for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, exploring the Economic Impact of Intellectual Property and Knowledge Assets Theft from Cyber Attacks in the UK

How much should the UK be spending to support its youngest generations? Every child deserves a solid foundation of sup...
23/04/2026

How much should the UK be spending to support its youngest generations?

Every child deserves a solid foundation of support and social care to thrive. But to build that foundation, we first need to understand the scale of our national investment.

In 2023, we were commissioned by a coalition of five of the UK's leading children's charities — Action for Children, Barnardo's, National Children's Bureau, NSPCC, and The Children's Society — to find out.

Our research showed the UK was investing 8.57% of its GDP (£191.1 billion) in babies, children, and young people — £42 billion less annually than the world's top five spenders.

This was the reality then. The question remains: what does good investment in children look like today?

Swipe to see the findings that helped inform the national conversation on children's spending. ➡️

🔗 To read the full report, visit the link in the comments:

In Wales, there is growing interest in what devolving the administration of social security could mean in practice. Alma...
22/04/2026

In Wales, there is growing interest in what devolving the administration of social security could mean in practice.

Alma Economics was commissioned by the Welsh Government to explore the opportunities, challenges, and risks — examining whether administrative devolution could improve benefit take-up, make services more flexible, and reduce poverty.

We explored three case studies:
🔎 Improved visibility of vulnerable households in Wales
🔎 More localised, personalised support for benefit claimants
🔎 Lessons from Scotland's approach to reframing social security

Our findings show that administrative devolution of social security to Wales could support benefit take-up and make services more flexible, but its impact is limited without control over policy and would likely require additional investment to deliver real benefits.

It also involves significant costs, risks, and complex negotiations with the UK Government. Wales should carefully assess whether devolution offers clear advantages over simpler alternatives before establishing new delivery agencies.

This work will help shape future decisions in Wales and support wider discussions across the sector on how to build social security systems that work better for the people who need them most.

🔗 Read the full report via the link in the comments


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CY:Yng Nghymru, mae diddordeb cynyddol yn yr hyn y gallai datganoli gweinyddu nawdd cymdeithasol ei olygu yn ymarferol.

Comisiynodd Llywodraeth Cymru Alma Economics i archwilio'r cyfleoedd, yr heriau a'r risgiau — gan ystyried a all datganoli gweinyddiaeth wella derbyniad budd-daliadau, gwneud gwasanaethau'n fwy hyblyg, a lleihau tlodi.

Archwiliom dri astudiaeth achos:
🔎 Gwell gwelededd o aelwydydd sy’n agored i niwed yng Nghymru
🔎 Cymorth mwy lleol a phersonol i hawlwyr budd-daliadau
🔎 Gwersi o ddull yr Alban o ailfframio nawdd cymdeithasol

Mae ein canfyddiadau'n dangos y gallai datganoli gweinyddu nawdd cymdeithasol i Gymru gefnogi derbyniad o fudd-daliadau a gwneud gwasanaethau'n fwy hyblyg, ond mae ei effaith yn
gyfyngedig heb reolaeth dros bolisi a byddai'n debygol o fod angen buddsoddiad ychwanegol i gyflawni buddion gwirioneddol. Mae hefyd yn cynnwys costau sylweddol, risgiau, a thrafodaethau cymhleth gyda Llywodraeth y DU.

Bydd y gwaith hwn yn helpu i lunio penderfyniadau yn y dyfodol yng Nghymru ac yn cefnogi trafodaethau ehangach ar draws y sector ar sut i adeiladu systemau nawdd cymdeithasol sy'n gweithio'n well i'r bobl sydd fwyaf eu hangen.

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

📰When a community loses its local paper – what else is the community at risk of losing with it?Local journalism is under...
17/04/2026

📰When a community loses its local paper – what else is the community at risk of losing with it?

Local journalism is under significant pressure. As local news coverage diminishes, so too does its influence on democracy — potentially weakening public services and reducing community engagement in decision-making.

Despite broad recognition of its importance, little research had explored the direct impact of local journalism on local democracy and governance in the UK. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport commissioned Alma Economics to help close that evidence gap, examining how local news supports local government administrations, promotes transparency and accountability, and ultimately contributes to more effective governance.

We spoke with more than 30 local journalists, editors, and local authority officials, and paired those insights with a quantitative analysis across up to 289 English local authorities.

Key insights include:
💡Local news flags issues that local authorities don't always see.
Examples range from potholes and fly-tipping to more strategic issues, including a newspaper editor who helped prevent a riot by alerting authorities to misinformation during the summer 2024 unrest.

💡Local journalism counters the misinformation that social media fuels
There is a strong consensus amongst journalists and officials that more local coverage, not less, is necessary to address misinformation and the community tensions fuelled by the rise of social media.

💡The scarecrow effect
The mere presence of a local newspaper can change how councils behave, with officials noting that long-standing local titles have an outsized influence on council behaviour far beyond their readership figures.

The qualitative evidence supports the link between local news and better governance. The quantitative findings are more nuanced — and the gap between the two reveals something important about how we measure the true value of local journalism

🔗 To find out more, read the full report by visiting the link in the comments

15/04/2026

The UK is Europe's largest video games market, a sector where consumers spend £8.8 billion every year.

This week, the UK government announced a £28.5 million Games Growth Package to back the next generation of UK games developers. Alma Economics were commissioned by Department for Culture, Media and Sport to evaluate the UK Games Fund — the programme at the heart of that investment.

Since 2015, the fund has supported close to 8,000 UK games developers, helping them grow their talent, creativity, and intellectual property. Our evaluation of the fund, published in 2025, combined a large-scale data collection exercise, qualitative research, and a quasi-experimental approach to assess the Fund's processes, impact, and economic value.

Our findings made a compelling case for the Fund's value, and we're pleased to have played a part in developing the evidence base that helped make the case for this investment.

🔗To read the full announcement, visit the following link:
https://bit.ly/4vvUQi5

⬇️Visit the link in the comments to explore our 2025 findings.

At Alma, we work on some of the most pressing issues facing society - from housing and homelessness, children and young ...
13/04/2026

At Alma, we work on some of the most pressing issues facing society - from housing and homelessness, children and young people, to health and social care, and beyond. Widening access to careers in this space isn't separate from that mission. It's part of it.

We had the pleasure of welcoming Poppy, Asees, and Samran to Alma as part of our Experience Week. This year, we partnered with upReach - an award-winning social mobility charity working to ensure that every student, regardless of background, has an equal opportunity to reach their career potential.

Despite growing numbers of students attending university, economic background remains one of the most significant drivers of inequality when it comes to accessing competitive graduate roles. Partnerships like this one are part of how we try to do something about that.

Over the course of the week, Poppy, Asees, and Samran got hands-on experience of life at a research and policy consultancy, working on mock bid presentations, a research-policy analysis task, and spending time with Alma experts across the team.

We're proud to be a partner with upReach this year, and even prouder to have had Poppy, Asees, and Sameer intern with us. We're delighted to have played a small part in their journeys, and we look forward to seeing them go from strength to strength.

A special thank you goes to Nikita & Katrina from Alma for putting together a fantastic schedule for our interns and to Darius, Adam and Georgia from upReach for all their support too!

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