Cost Calculator
What is the cost calculator?
The cost calculator is an easy and accessible tool developed by our Research and Evaluation team. It aims to build an understanding of an individual, or a groups’, costs to the system that they interact with and how costs for the individual move through different parts of that system. People with multiple and complex needs interact with lots of different services across many different sectors and the cost calculator will help us understand the economic case by looking at the overall costs and make cost modelling more accessible.
The unit costs across the sector were compiled from a number of open sources. Where current costs were updated the values were updated for inflation.
- Alcohol Use Disorders: diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence (NICE Clinical Practice Guidance, 2010)
- DWP Annual reports
- Immediate costs to government of loss of home (Shelter, 2012
- National Schedule of Reference Costs for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts
- Probation-trust-unit-costs-2012-13
- Salford Police costs (2006/07))
- The Economic and Social Costs of Anti-Social Behaviour: a review’ (London School of Economics and Political Science, 2003)
- Unit costs for health and social care
We want to make this tool as useful and comprehensive as we can for the wider sector. If you have any costs that you would like to contribute, or feel like we have not included a unit that you would like us to add then please contact angela.broadbridge@fulfillinglives-ng.org.uk
How does the cost calculator work?
The cost calculator adds up unit costs of a client, or aggregated clients over a set period of time and the total is how much the client has cost the various services over the period calculated; adding up the costs over a quarter period. Further developments will look to offer different time scales of calculator.
Comparative costs can be made pre and post an intervention but the cost calculator does not make an assumption about attribution of costs saved or provide a cost benefit ratio.
The cost calculator is very easy to use. Add the relevant numbers to the specified boxes, or slide the scale to the appropriate number. The cost of that unit will be shown in the right hand column.
You can add as many, or as few, unit costs and you would like. If you only want to include, for example, criminal justice costs then the calculator total will only show those costs. If there is nothing entered against a unit then the value returned will zero.
The total cost is shown at the bottom of the right hand column. For a copy of your entries just copy all, and paste into a spreadsheet.
NB. The two columns do not scroll in unison so if you can’t see your value for a unit just entered please check that you’re scrolled to the right point in the column.
The cost calculator is a live, working tool and we are looking to develop it regularly. If you have any thoughts, ideas, comments or costs to contribute please contact angela.broadbridge@fulfillinglives-ng.org.uk
