Our Services

Our services are all about improving social impact

ATQ supports the achievement, measurement and evaluation of social impact, by:

Helping commissioners and providers develop and implement outcomes-based contracts that deliver social impact;

Managing, monitoring and evaluating projects and programmes which achieve social impact

Supporting social sector organisations to win contracts and measure and improve their social impact

Our services usually fall into one of four main service lines as described below.

Evaluation and implementation support

ATQ provides research and evaluation of programmes that aim to improve people’s lives through innovative services and interventions.  We do this off our own bat and in partnership with other evaluators such as Ecorys and the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT).  We have been partnering Ecorys on the longitudinal evaluation of the Commissioning Better Outcomes Fund since 2014, and on the evaluation of the Access Foundation’s Growth Fund since 2016. Both evaluations are now due to run until 2025. Please see Publications page for details of these and other reports we have authored

We have also partnered Ecorys on major research and evaluation projects for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Department for Education. 

In 2022, we started working with Norfolk County Council on the pooled evaluation of 10 of the 14 Community Renewal Fund projects in the county.

We also provide implementation support to major programmes, supporting multiple stakeholders across both funders and providers to ensure programmes run smoothly, challenges are addressed and cross-project learning is shared and exploited. In 2014-15 we supported the Rehabilitation Social Action Fund, working across 12 projects funded by the Cabinet Office.  In 2022, we completed delivery of four-years of implementation support to the Home Office’s Trusted Relationships programme, working across 11 projects.  This included management of shared learning activities working closely with the programme evaluation partner BIT. 

Commissioner advice and support

Since 2012, we have worked with commissioners across central and local government and the health service to help them make better informed decisions through options appraisal and feasibility studies.

We have particular expertise in outcomes-based commissioning and contracting especially Payment by Results (PbR) and Social Outcomes Contracts (SOCs) and Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). We have undertaken over 25 SIB projects working with more than 30 lead commissioners, numerous potential co-commissioners, a wide range of VCSE providers from large national charities to small local specialists, and most of the leading social investors.

Social outcomes valuation and cost benefit analysis

A thread running through our other services is our ability to model and value social outcomes and conduct cost benefit analysis of projects We do this both to support a feasibility study and options appraisal and to show retrospectively the social value delivered by current or past social outcomes contracts and other projects 

In 2022, we produced a ground-breaking report for Big Society Capital to show the value of all social outcomes contracts in the UK since the first contract was launched over ten years ago.  This work was based on an approach that we have applied to more than 30 different projects starting with major work for the Cabinet Office in 2011-12. 

Social sector capacity building

ATQ helps social sector providers, large and small, build capacity and long-term sustainability by improving both contract and investment readiness.  We help VCSEs to understand and position for new market opportunities particularly through measuring and quantifying their impact and the social value of the outcomes they help to create.  We help providers put in place the organisational changes, systems and processes needed to support successful impact measurement and management.

Our further support ranges from organisational development (do we have the right people with the right skills?) through strategic analysis (what is our plan for developing our services in this sector?) to “sleeves rolled up” support to bid writing and pitching to commissioners and investors.

ATQ works with service providers to help them understand their social investment options, engage with investors and prepare the business case to raise funding.

All of our clients are voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSE) delivering services that improve social outcomes across a wide range of areas.  These include community health, social care, offender rehabilitation, children and families, and social housing.