Blog
Tickets are now on sale for BX2019
We are delighted to announce that tickets are now on sale for the Behavioural Exchange 2019 conference. On 5th and 6th September 2019, the Behavioural Insights Team will host the largest gathering of the world’s greatest behavioural scientists and policy practitioners. There will be space for over 1,000 delegates over two days, with sessions that combine […]
December 21, 2018
How can we end the Loyalty Penalty?
In our previous blog we set out the behavioural factors underpinning the ‘loyalty penalty’: the fact that consumers who do not shop around and switch deals can pay up to £877 a year more for their bills for basic services. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has this week recommended 8 reforms to tackle the […]
December 19, 2018
The Loyalty Penalty: why do disengaged customers pay more for essential services?
Imagine you’re thinking about whether to switch your broadband provider. You’ve seen various offers advertised, and reckon you could save money. Sounds simple. But before signing up to a new deal you’ll need to: Consider whether it is worth staying loyal to your current provider. Will you lose existing customer discounts? Could you lose your […]
December 18, 2018
The Heywood Foundation
Jeremy Heywood – Cabinet Secretary until only few weeks ago; great champion of behavioural science, What Works, and innovation in government much more widely – was laid to rest on Friday. It was an incredibly moving and beautiful ceremony in the Henry VII chapel in Westminster Abbey. The Prime Minister was of course there – […]
November 29, 2018
Eight years
After eight fantastic years, I will be moving on from the Behavioural Insights Team to embark on six months of parental leave with my young son and daughter. My last day will be this Friday. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to write about the last eight years with the team. What has changed. […]
November 28, 2018
How behavioural insights can improve employment policies and programmes
A job is more than a source of income I graduated from university at the peak of the global financial crisis. Back then, the youth unemployment rate in Italy was over 40%. I vividly remember looking through online job boards, with no more than a handful of vacancies, mostly underpaid internships. After months of unsuccessful […]
November 28, 2018
Monzo and the Financial Capability Lab: a new partnership to help people manage their spending
Making spending decisions in a hot coral state It’s the Money Advice Service’s (MAS) Talk Money Week, and here at the Behavioural Insights Team we’ve been talking about our new partnership with the challenger bank Monzo. Together we’ll be developing and testing new product features to help people use the trademark hot coral card to […]
November 15, 2018
Catching cancer early in Greater Manchester: new trial results
Almost half of the UK population will get cancer during their lifetime. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical for improving cancer survival rates and quality of life, yet one in five cases of cancer is still detected late through emergency hospital admissions. The national cancer screening programmes (breast, cervical and bowel) are designed to catch […]
November 5, 2018
Behavioural science and policy: where are we now and where are we going?
The use of behavioural science in policy has exploded since the publication of Nudge in 2008 and the creation of BIT in 2010. We were asked to reflect on the team’s work for a new issue of Behavioural Public Policy, and we decided to be open about some of the challenges with applying behavioural science […]
November 5, 2018
Helping our public service leaders – the new Centre for Public Services Leadership
In 1997, leaders from Cardiff’s local authority, police, city licensing regulators, an emergency department and a local university met to discuss a problem. Violent crime was increasing in the city at a disturbing rate. Something had to be done. Seven years later, violence-related hospital admissions were down by 35% and serious violence by 42%. Estimates […]
October 29, 2018