How we measure what happens next

IT’S POSSIBLE NOW measures success by what becomes possible afterwards: paid starts, earnings, retention, sustained trading, barriers removed and changes adopted. Its defining line is “We do not measure success by participation. We measure it by what becomes possible afterwards.” Every result published comes with the method behind it and the limits of what it shows.

Why participation is not the test

Attendance and finishing a course are easy to count, and they say little about whether anything changed for the person. Support is only useful if it leads somewhere. For each route, and for every adjustment made, IT’S POSSIBLE NOW records what changed, so that the question “did it lead anywhere?” has an answer that someone can check.

The fifth of the five steps on How it works is to evidence what works: record what happened, what it cost and what changed.

The four groups of measures

The first three follow the three routes. Accessibility is separate because it applies across all of them: whenever a barrier is found and a change is tried, the record shows what the change cost and whether it worked.

What each group tells you

WORK measures follow a person after the job begins. A paid start shows that a role exists, and hours, earnings, retention and progression show whether it lasts and grows.

BUILD measures follow a trade. Customers, transactions and turnover show that selling is happening, earned income shows what reaches the person, and how long trading lasts shows whether the enterprise holds.

SHAPE measures follow an assignment. They count paid assignments and barriers identified, then changes tested and changes adopted, which matches the four steps of a SHAPE assignment: barrier identified, change tested, evidence recorded, change adopted where it works.

Accessibility measures keep the cost beside the result. An adjustment that works and costs a great deal says something different from one that works and costs little, and a record that shows whether it is still in use tells you whether the change held.

Method and limits come with every result

The commitment to publish a method and its limits applies to every figure. A number without its method cannot be checked, and a number without its limits invites readers to claim more than it shows. The same line appears on the partners page for funders deciding whether to back the work, and partners are named with their agreement.

The DWP figure on the employment gap, which another article discusses, is context for the problem. Results from the routes themselves are reported against the measures in the table above.

Where to read the measures

The full list sits on How it works, with the same four groups shown on the partners page for organisations deciding whether to fund, host, employ or partner. The FAQ hub answers common questions about how success is judged.