Survey design services

Tender description

The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is currently working in collaboration with three partners to conduct an academic trial through HM Government Work and Health Unit. The project is seeking to design and undertake a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) which will be testing whether SMEs improve their health and wellbeing offer to employees in response to a fiscal incentive, and what level of fiscal incentive provides the tipping point by which employers take action. To design the trial the WMCA have been working with RAND Europe, Warwick University Business School and Warwick University Medical School. WMCA has been acting as the lead organisation in a collaborate approach to building the trial which will seek to create both a delivery arm and evaluation arm of the academic trial. The intention is for Warwick business school and Warwick medical school to conduct the academic evaluation of the impact of the fiscal incentive with RAND Europe conducting the academic process evaluation of the trial. The organisations have been chosen due to their high level specialist expertise relevant to this trial. Prof. Richard Lilford is a published expert in Randomised control trial design based at Warwick university medical school; Prof. Ivo Vlaev is a published expert on Nudge Behaviour based at Warwick business school; RAND Europe are an organisation who have extensive experience in the research field of work and health and have published extensively in this area. This programme is seeking to bid for funds to the value of 1 360 000 GBP broken down into Warwick medical school evaluation (550 000 GBP), Warwick Business school evaluation and support (100 000 GBP), Rand Europe (110 000 GBP) and West midlands combined authority (600 000 GBP to include the grant to the organisations involved.). The delivery arm of the trial will seek to work with 134 self-selected small and medium enterprises who will be randomised into the 4 arms of the trail. A grant will be given to two arms of the trial, and the other 2 arms will be different levels of control. A formal procurement process has not been undertaken due to the collaborative approach to building the Randomised control trial design for the intervention and the wider delivery of the programme. A significant level of intellectual capital has already been invested by all three organisations. It is hoped that if the programme is successful there will be a formal procurement process to scale up the programme across the wider West midlands or even at a national level.