Evaluation finds ADR UK is a beneficial data linkage investment returning significant value to government and researchers

An independent, economic evaluation of the ADR UK programme conservatively estimates that ADR UK is returning a ​​​​benefit-cost ratio of 5.05. This means that for every pound spent, there are just over £5 of benefits.  

Oxford Insights and Lateral Economics conducted this mid-term evaluation with support from the Open Data Institute. A summary report published today presents an overview of the results and provides an assessment of ADR UK’s progress to date. ​​​​The full report, also available, provides a more in-depth assessment including both realised and potential impact.  

The evaluation used a range of methods to gather insights on the programme including interviews, case studies, and surveys, as well as ​​​​economic analysis. The report states that, from the evidence available to date, the cost savings made by the partnership together with ADR UK’s projected wider social-economic impacts, reveal that ADR UK’s benefits significantly outweigh costs. 

Nicholas Gruen of Lateral Economics said: “Governments sit on mountains of administrative data that can help us improve services by understanding what works best. But getting that data into its most useable form is hard work. Datasets must be painstakingly linked while privacy is protected​​. But we’re now seeing past investment in this is bearing fruit. Our analysis shows that for every £1 invested the UK saw £5 of benefits.”  

Beyond the economic value of ADR UK, qualitative insights from the stakeholders engaged across government and academia confirm that ADR UK is broadly on track to meet its intended goals. In particular, the interim findings highlight ADR UK’s contribution to:  

• supporting the acquisition, linkage and cleaning of over 200 new datasets 

• improving data accessibility by funding remote access through SafePods and trusted research environments without compromising security  

• building buy-in for administrative data sharing across Whitehall departments and devolved government 

• establishing closer links between researchers and policy. 

Researcher experience remains one of the partnership’s main challenges, particularly when it comes to the timeliness of data availability

Despite the progress and significant improvement since its previous iteration “ADRN”, there is still more for the ADR UK partnership to do. One of the key areas identified for improvement is the general sense from researchers that data access takes too long. In particular, that data-access forms are long and complicated, accreditation can be time consuming, and that some researchers have faced delays in linked data becoming available which haven’t been well communicated. There is an opportunity for the partnership to do more focussed service design work to find further ways to simplify the researcher journey, balancing this need with the need to retain strict security requirements. 

Richard Stirling of Oxford Insights said: “To address society’s biggest challenges, we need robust data infrastructure that supports secure, cross-government linkages and safe academic access. ADR UK is essential to this effort, equipping thousands of researchers with critical data, and providing over £5 back to the economy for every pound spent, and likely much more. This evaluation not only highlights ADR UK's impact but also adds valuable insight to the limited literature on the value of government data linkage programmes.” 

A strong case for reinvestment 

ADR UK is in the second half of its current investment period 2021-26 and will be making the case for re-investment to UK Research and Innovation and DSIT next year (2025). The findings of this evaluation provide a strong case for that reinvestment. The recommendations are already being acted upon, and being integrated into the full business case for 2026-31.  

Dr Emma Gordon, Director or ADR UK said: “ADR UK’s strength lies in its partnership model, and how we collaborate with government data owners to open up research access to data. This evaluation provides evidence that our model works and is scalable, providing a very good return on investment. Each of our partners is integral to the success detailed in this evaluation. In our next business case, we will build upon these strengths to outline how we will continue to smooth the researcher journey to accessing population-level linked data.”

The ESRC commissioned this independent mid-term economic evaluation of the ADR UK programme. It aimed to assess to what extent ADR UK has progressed in creating intended changes to achieve its strategic outcomes. The selection of Oxford Insights and Lateral Economics followed a competition overseen by UKRI procurement. Six organisations bid for the contract, and proposals were evaluated by a panel against specified criteria. A final economic impact evaluation will be commissioned in 2026. 

Read the summary report.