Across Europe, social services support millions of people every day, helping them to live fulfilling lives and participate in their communities. These services, which include employment programmes, mental health support, housing interventions, disability services, youth inclusion initiatives and community-based care, often rely on public funding to operate.

Despite their importance, social services often face challenges in demonstrating their economic efficiency as well as their wider social value and impact. Limited capacity, complex service delivery environments and short funding cycles mean that systematic evaluation is still the exception rather than the norm. This evaluation gap has economic, social, and political consequences. Programmes that cannot demonstrate their impact not only become economically and socially unfeasible but are also politically vulnerable.

To respond to this gap, the BENEFITS (Building Economic, Needs-Based and Environmental evaluation Frameworks for Inclusive Transformation of Social services in Europe) Project has published the European Green Book for Social Services.

An evaluation framework designed for social services

The framework is the first of its kind, responding to the current fragmentation of evaluation practices across EU Member States and the absence of a common European‑level appraisal standard for social services. Developed specifically for the realities of social service provision, the framework is flexible to the differing needs of social services operating across diverse contexts.

Adapted from the UK Treasury’s Green Book, the framework aligns with European regulatory requirements, including the EU Better Regulation Guidelines, the European Pillar of Social Rights, the GDPR, HORIZON Europe deliverable standards, and ESF+ performance requirements.

The resource responds directly to three core evaluation challenges that are distinctive to social services:

• Capturing service value beyond monetary outcome.
• Measuring impacts that emerge over time and extend beyond standard funding and reporting cycles
• Accounting for complex causal pathways, as services operate within dynamic systems shaped by policy, institutions, and lived experience.

Offering a three-tier approach

Recognising that limited capacity is a barrier to consistent evaluation, the Green Book introduces a flexible, three‑tier evaluation system grounded in the principle that evaluation effort should be proportionate to programme size and the significance of decision stakes. This approach allows organisations and funders to select methods that are both appropriate and feasible for them.

• Tier 1: Foundation Methods

Consisting of methods including Theory of Change, Outcome Monitoring and Stakeholder Feedback, this tier will help services establish the essential building blocks for learning and accountability.

• Tier 2: Intermediate Methods

For established programmes facing efficiency questions, the Green Book provides guidance and tools on the use of methods including Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and Social Return on Investment.

• Tier 3: Advanced Methods

For services with large-scale programmes or requiring high-stakes policy decisions, Tier 3 supports the use of evaluation methods such as Cost-Benefit Analysis and Realist Evaluation.

By offering this approach, the BENEFITS Green Book aims to provide a structured yet adaptable framework for social services that will help them increase their evidence-based decision-making, improve their accountability and enhance the long-term sustainability of their services. Read the BENEFITS European Green Book for Social Services in full here.