Defining the different types of benefits and disbenefits.
Benefit
A benefit is a value or other positive impact, resulting from an outcome, which is perceived as an advantage by one or more stakeholders. Go to HM Treasury’s Green Book for more information.
Monetisable benefit
Monetisable benefits provide a measured improvement expressed in monetary terms. These can be either of the following:
- Cash-releasing – financial savings, such as:
- actual budget reduction
- removal of recurring spend
- income generation
- efficiency savings that reduce labour costs
- Non-cash-releasing – efficiency gains that can be valued in monetary terms (quantifiable) but are non-cash releasing, such as:
- cost avoidance
- improved productivity or time savings
- improved use of resources
- reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
Unmonetisable benefit
Unmonetisable benefits cannot be assigned a monetary value but may still be meaningfully measured. These can be either of the following:
- Quantifiable – a benefit that can be expressed in numerical terms, but not in monetary terms, such as:
- improved performance
- improved quality
- speed of resolution
- Qualitative – a benefit that cannot be feasibly expressed in numerical terms and can only be understood using words, such as:
- reduction in risk
- improved business continuity
- improved relations
- improved compliance (law or policy)
- quality of user experience
Disbenefit (social cost)
A disbenefit (social cost) is the value or other negative impact, resulting from an outcome, which is perceived as a disadvantage by one or more stakeholders. Go to HM Treasury’s Green Book for more information.
Monetisable disbenefit
Monetisable disbenefits demonstrate a measurable negative effect expressed in monetary terms. These can be either of the following:
- Cash cost – a monetisable disbenefit that affects the income or expenditure of a public body, such as:
- rental charges for a building
- increased maintenance costs
- increased demand on staff time, resulting in overtime costs
- additional training requirements
- reduced enforcement-related income
- Non-cash-cost – a monetisable disbenefit that does not affect the income or expenditure of a public body, such as:
- decrease in productivity when a new system is launched
- increase in greenhouse gas emissions
- reduced reporting or engagement
Unmonetisable disbenefits
Unmonetisable disbenefits cannot be assigned a monetary value but may still be meaningfully measured. These can be either of the following:
- Quantifiable – a disbenefit that can be expressed in numerical terms, but not in monetary terms, such as:
- reduction in performance
- increased travel time because of centralisation of services
- increase in demand on partner agencies
- Qualitative – a disbenefit that cannot be feasibly expressed in numerical terms and can only be understood using words:
- increased risk
- reduced victim or witness satisfaction
- decrease in morale because of organisational change