BDUK Vouchers Evaluation: Impacts and Value for Money Assessment
This is the second report of analytical findings on vouchers’ effect on broadband availability and performance and resulting economic impacts. Includes a survey of residential voucher recipients, and estimates wellbeing and environmental impacts.
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DCMS has appointed Hatch, Belmana and Winning Moves to undertake an evaluation of the Building Digital UK (BDUK) vouchers product, consisting of the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) and Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) Programme.
This is the second initial impact evaluation report, examining all BDUK vouchers issued and connected by March 2021.
The Summary and Full Technical Report provide findings from:
- updated counterfactual analysis of the additional impact of vouchers on availability of broadband technologies and download speeds
- new counterfactual analysis of the additional impacts of vouchers on firm-level and area-level economic performance in businesses and areas that have received vouchers. This is used to quantify the additional economic impacts of the intervention to date
- analysis of the residential beneficiary survey undertaken by Winning Moves in 2022, which provides insights on the characteristics of households that received vouchers, their motivation for applying and the range of uses and benefits that they have derived from the upgraded connection
- an assessment of the wellbeing benefits for households from receiving a voucher
- an assessment of the environmental impacts of the voucher programmes due to reduced travel and changes in energy usage
- an initial cost-benefit analysis which assesses the value for money of the voucher schemes to date
This concludes the initial evaluation stage of these BDUK voucher scheme. A further evaluation point will take place in 2025.