The state of happiness: can public policy shape people’s wellbeing and resilience?

This report from the Young Foundation and the IDeA highlights that promoting and influencing happiness is no longer just an aspiration. As the recession forces difficult public spending choices, services focused on wellbeing are delivering widespread economic and social benefits – especially to children.

The State of Happiness report – on the Young Foundation website

The State of Happiness summary

'The State of Happiness' brings together four years of groundbreaking work based on in-depth pilot projects with three councils in very different areas of the country:

• Manchester
• Hertfordshire
• South Tyneside.

Against a backdrop of intense pressures on public spending, the report recommends prioritising programmes that:

• teach children resilience in schools, drawing on strong evidence that this improves academic performance and behaviour, as well as future employability
• promote opportunities for neighbours to get to know each other, based on clear evidence that this tends to enhance wellbeing
• provide support to isolated older people to help them create and maintain social networks, and reduce anxiety and depression
• reshape apprenticeships and other programmes for teenagers to strengthen psychological fitness and help them find and keep work
• support families so parents are happier and children are less likely to face problems at home and at school
• promote activities that are good for the environment and make people feel better about their lives.

Geoff Mulgan, Director of the Young Foundation and co-author of the report said:

“Governments cannot ‘make people happy’, but they can and should create the conditions in which they are more likely to be happy. It used to be claimed that you couldn’t measure wellbeing, and then that governments could do nothing to influence it. This report shows both arguments to be outdated. A new common sense is taking shape which shows that action to promote wellbeing is also good for the economy and public services. When the political parties publish their manifestos, they should be assessed for their likely impact on public wellbeing as well as their impact on issues such as economic growth and public spending.”

On the importance of councils taking a wellbeing focus, Andrew Cozens, the IDeA’s Strategic Adviser for Children, Adults and Health Services, said:

“We are living longer, families are materially better off, and we have experienced falling crime rates. But as a nation we are more anxious and stressed, and in poor health. Family life is increasingly fractured, and children and young people are ill-equipped to respond to challenges of modern society. By using a wellbeing lens within education and in wider public services, local authorities can help people feel more engaged, be more socially active and, as a result, deliver better outcomes for the communities they serve.”

Page published January 2010.