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A Toolkit for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Information and Advice Provision

Toolkit | February 2015

Consultation with councils has highlighted a need for a robust methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of information and advice services, including ways to evidence its contribution towards the prevention agenda and corresponding impact on the wider care and support system.

This toolkit is aimed at local authority commissioners, and offers a series of steps to take to evaluate information and advice services as follows:

  • Step 1: Considerations before starting out
  • Step 2: Set a focus for the evaluation
  • Step 3: Collect customer contact details
  • Step 4: Collect data:
    • Surveys / questionnaires
    • Focus groups
    • Case studies
    • Usability tests
    • Mystery shopper
  • Step 5: Analyse the data
  • Tools and resources

This toolkit was prepared for the South West Association of Directors of Adults Social Services (ADASS), as part of a wider project to support the implementation of the information and advice aspects of the Care Act and the Children and Families Act `Local offer`.

As part of the wider project, a Directory of good information and advice websites and Information toolkit were also developed.