/ MEM Academy · Methodology paper
SROI methodology — unit costs & reoffending treatment
Stakeholder reference for every £ shown on memacademy.org. All per-person and aggregate figures are produced by the same computeSroi() function in src/lib/sroi/formula.ts. We deliberately under-claim.
- Document
- SROI methodology v1
- Issuer
- MEM Academy
- Generated
- 12/05/2026
- Audience
- Funders, commissioners, CSR
1. Per-event unit costs
Each event a participant generates is multiplied by the corresponding unit cost. Sources: HACT Social Value Bank (wellbeing & employment proxies) and MoJ Economic & Social Cost of Crime 2019, uplifted to 2024 prices.
Session attended
WHO-5 wellbeing uplift, prorated per session attended (HACT proxy).
Referral into structured employment support
Person engaged into the MEM employment pathway.
Hire confirmed (sustained 6+ months)
Employment proxy plus HMRC tax contribution.
Reoffending event avoided
Economic + social cost of one reoffending event.
2. Investment baseline & ratio
The SROI ratio is total social value ÷ investment. We assume £2,500 of partnership investment per participant. For aggregate live totals, the denominator is attendees × £2,500.
ratio = total_social_value ÷ (attendees × £2,500)
3. How reoffending is treated in live totals
- Counted only when avoided. A participant contributes the £4,080 unit only after a justice-partner confirms a 12-month no-reoffend window.
- Binary, never averaged. The input is 0 or 1 per person — we never apply a probabilistic uplift across the cohort in conservative mode.
- Excluded from short-window views. Sessions, referrals and hires update the live feed in real time. Reoffending-avoided £ only flow into the conservative aggregate once the 12-month window closes — so the live total is conservative by design.
- Projected mode is clearly labeled. An optional projected view applies the MoJ baseline (~30% of attendees) for funder comparison only. It is never used for procurement or CSR reporting.
- Removable on audit. If a partner disputes a flagged outcome, the unit is removed and the aggregate recalculates instantly via the same
computeSroi()function.
4. Conservative vs projected — side-by-side
Same illustrative cohort of 100 attendees (1200 sessions, 40 referrals, 12 hires), priced two ways. Use the toggle above to switch views on screen — printed copies always show both columns for stakeholder review.
Conservative
Audit-gradeReoffending-avoided counted only after a 12-month verified window. Used for procurement & CSR reporting.
- Sessions delivered
- £108,000
- Referrals into work
- £56,000
- Hires confirmed
- £50,400
- Reoffending avoided
- £0
- Total social value
- £214,400
- SROI ratio
- £0.86
Projected
Indicative onlyApplies the MoJ baseline (~30% of attendees = 30 reoffending events avoided). For funder comparison only — not used for CSR or procurement.
- Sessions delivered
- £108,000
- Referrals into work
- £56,000
- Hires confirmed
- £50,400
- Reoffending avoided
- £122,400
- Total social value
- £336,800
- SROI ratio
- £1.35
Projected uplift vs conservative
+£122,400 social value · +£0.49 ratio · driven entirely by reoffending-avoided assumption.
5. Worked example — anonymised participant
12 sessions attended, 1 referral, 1 hire confirmed, 1 reoffending event avoided.
