28. Planning, Performance & Impact

The Planning, Performance, and Impact Function is critical to the Research Delivery Network (RDN), enabling accountability, learning, and value demonstration. Its core mandate is to clearly articulate the RDN's real-world impact to the DHSC, system partners, and the public.

Planning, Performance, and Impact work is delivered across five service areas:

• Planning: This involves managing the annual planning cycle, developing planning products (such as templates and dashboards) and coordinating the completion of and reporting on planned activities within various part of the RDN. Capturing the breadth of the activities delivered by the RDN helps to demonstrate the difference we make. 

• Performance Monitoring and Reporting: The function defines and monitors actionable metrics aligned with policy, measuring progress against the 5-year Strategic Plan and reporting on RRDN Host Assurance and RDNCC Performance Indicators. It manages related reports for groups including the RDN Board and RDN Oversight Committee, and implements coordinated collection and application of stakeholder feedback to tailor RDN services to meet user needs.

• Impact: The function captures real-world outcomes and long-term benefits (including economic). It manages a searchable Impact Repository of verified impact summaries, where all colleagues from across the RDN can access them, ready to be tailored for specific audiences and used in communications. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and Impact Groups across the RDN will support this work by acting as 'Impact Champions' to share knowledge and guide colleagues across the Network to help implement the Performance and Impact Framework, and promote the identification of Impact stories and the use of MEL approaches.

• Intelligence-Informed Delivery Organisation (DO) Engagement: The function establishes a shared framework designed to cultivate robust working relationships between the RDN and DOs. By bringing enhanced visibility to the current state of research delivery across the system, it enhances strategic decision making and facilitates the provision of targetted support to DOs. It will also quantify the NIHR's Delivery Advice Service by the RDN - quantifying the support services provided to sites, asking whether the support helped, and assigning cost figures to demonstrate value. 

• Operating Framework and Assurance: This area focuses on managing the dynamic RDN Operating Framework, its Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), guidance and implementing a formal assurance process to ensure consistent compliance and application across the Network.

Planning

To support delivery of the services, functions and associated activities which are required to achieve the RDN’s mission, purpose and strategic plan, three different types of plans are produced annually which, along with other sources of information across the Network, combine to demonstrate both the breadth and depth of RDN activities and how the RDN is contributing to government policy. For 2026/27 these are RDNCC Annual Business Plan, 12 RRDN Plans and the Master Activities Worksheet (i.e. the function delivery groups' plans). 

The approach for 2027/28 planning is currently under discussion and this page will be updated when an agreement has been made. 

The Planning, Performance and Impact function is responsible for coordinating and scheduling the annual standard planning process. This includes reporting progress to the RDN Oversight Committee and, or, the DHSC and RDNCC Contract Management Board.

Why this matters:

The RDNCC Annual Business Plan is a RDNCC Host contractual obligation, which is reported quarterly to the DHSC and RDNCC Contract Management Board. 

The RDN Oversight Committee receives quarterly reports on the various plans to enable them to monitor progress against the activities. These support the RDN Oversight Committee to provide assurance to the RDN Board that the RDN is on track to deliver the RDN Commitments which will deliver the RDN 5-year Strategic Plan.

Further information can be sought from rdncc.performance.impact@nihr.ac.uk 

[Performance Monitoring and Reporting section, further details to follow]

RDN feedback

This sub-activity has responsibility for developing and maintaining an RDN-wide approach to obtaining customer and stakeholder feedback on our functions and services, to understand how well the NIHR RDN is meeting customer and stakeholder needs and to inform further improvements. 

To maximise NIHR RDN-wide learning, close the feedback loop and avoid overburdening customers and stakeholders the NIHR RDN needs to embed a simple, coordinated and coherent framework for receiving and responding to feedback.

There are several feedback processes already in place/ in development across the NIHR RDN. We are linking closely with colleagues in other teams, Functions and Delivery Groups about our various feedback mechanisms, our approach to managing and appropriately sharing the feedback themes and insights collected through these, and our collective approach.

This sub-activity seeks to embed a coordinated approach based on existing and evolving mechanisms to obtain customer and stakeholder feedback. This will include:

• Promoting the utility of feedback, 

• Encouraging the use of proportionate mechanisms for collecting feedback, 

• RDN-level analysis of feedback received to understand a broad picture of RDN customer experience,

• Sharing of intelligence to facilitate cross-Network, NIHR and wider system, learning and continuous improvement.

An RDN online feedback form is available on the RDN website. This form is designed to complement other specific feedback mechanisms in place across our Network. This form can be used by individuals and teams to seek feedback on NIHR RDN support and services from customers and stakeholders or by RDN staff to record ad hoc feedback they have received as part of day to day interactions with customers and external stakeholders.

We encourage RDN staff to add details of the form to your individual email signature and to generic shared team/Single Point of Contact (SPoC) inboxes unless there is one more relevant to your service. See article on The Bridge for more details.

If you have any questions or feedback about the RDN feedback process or form please send them to rdn-feedback-admin@nihr.ac.uk. 

The RDNCC has a related performance indicator about systematically addressing customer and stakeholder feedback (Indicator 4 in Schedule 6 of the DHSC and RDNCC Contract). Work for this indicator is coordinated by members of the RDNCC Performance and Impact team, based on relevant activities across the RDN.

Impact

This sub-function aims to support staff to explain how the RDN’s work creates real-world outcomes and impact for people, partners, and the economy, so leaders can make better decisions, learn what works, and strengthen future delivery.

This is enabled through the development of the Performance and Impact Framework which supports RDN staff to articulate the outcomes the RDN aims to achieve, measure and evaluate our contribution to those outcomes. This all feeds into learning that can inform strategy, commissioning, service improvement and performance targets so that RDN activity translates into real-world benefits for people, the research system and the economy.

The RDN Impact Tracker and Repository are tools produced by the Planning, Performance and Impact function to support colleagues across the RDN to record and track examples of work that demonstrates how the RDN adds value to the system, and contributes to wider NIHR impact. The focus of the tracker isn't only on the ultimate end change or difference made - it’s also designed to capture ‘moment in time’ activities. Documenting the difference that day-to-day activities make as they happen will build a strong evidence base to support reporting, and communications with partners and funders. 

RDN Impact Tracker entries are reviewed by ‘MEL and Impact Groups’ who will support RDN colleagues to develop ‘impact summaries’ - short, validated versions of these examples. These ‘impact summaries’ will be added to the RDN Impact Repository, where all colleagues from across the RDN can access them, ready to be used in communications. Further information can be found in the Recording and progressing NIHR RDN impact summaries Standard Operating Procedure, linked below. 

The establishment of Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Impact groups are an important way in which the Planning, Performance and Impact function is able to support this work. 

Made up of a core membership of regional Heads of Strategy, Research Engagement and Impact, Corporate Services Managers and Strategic Project Facilitators, with regional flexibility for additional membership, these regional groups are an innovative approach to levelling-up the nation-wide RDN workforce to embed MEL into business as usual and help demonstrate the difference made by the RDN. The groups will initially be responsible for: 

• Supporting the implementation of the Performance and Impact Framework across their region and function, initially by raising awareness of the framework, and supporting colleagues to understand its relevance for their role

• Promoting the identification of impact examples from RDN staff to be added to the RDN Impact Tracker

• Supporting the population and maintenance of the RDN Impact Repository

• Providing guidance to regional and functional colleagues on MEL and Impact 

• Supporting the establishment and actively participating in the RDN-wide MEL and Impact Community of Practice to enable peer support and learning.

[Intelligence-Informed Delivery Organisation (DO) Engagement section to follow]

Operating Framework and Assurance

The Planning, Performance and Impact function has responsibility for coordinating the Performance and Operating Framework (POF), which consists of the Performance and Impact Framework and the dynamic Operating Framework. 

This involves:

• Developing and providing guidance on the preparation of content to authors and working closely with them to shape appropriate content 

• Issuing quarterly reminders to review and update content where needed

• Convening a change control group to review proposed changes and new content 

• Making the agreed changes to the Operating Framework and POF Google site

• Communicating changes to the Operating Framework and POF to all RDN staff (and other partners as appropriate).

Related expectations for others:

• Function Delivery Groups and Leads are responsible for drafting and, or, coordinating the drafting of content for their Function, with relevant subject matter experts. Delivery Groups are encouraged to add Operating Framework content as a regular agenda item for Delivery Group meetings.

• All RDN staff are expected to familiarise themselves with the content of the POF and keep up to date with changes so they can ensure that they are working as expected.

• RDN staff are encouraged to share ideas on content that it would be helpful to add to the Operating Framework, by contacting the relevant Function leadership team (details are listed on each Function page) or if you are not sure which Function the content relates to then you can contact rdn-operating-framework@nihr.ac.uk

• RDN Hosts and Delivery organisations may need to refer to POF content to understand support and, or, delivery expectations and ways of working in detail.

Planning

RDNCC Annual Business Plan (2026/27) v2.0

RRDN Plans (2026/27)
Function Master Activities Worksheet

Function Activity Reports (progress on Master Activities Worksheet)

Performance Monitoring and Reporting 

Performance and Operating Framework site

RDN Feedback

RDN feedback form page on The Bridge (accessible to NIHR staff only)

RDN online feedback form

Impact

Internal

Standard Operating Procedure: Recording and progressing NIHR RDN impact summaries

RDN Impact Tracker (accessible internally by NIHR colleagues)

RDN Impact Repository (accessible internally by NIHR colleagues)

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and Impact Groups

External

The Magenta Book: HM Treasury guidance on what to consider when designing an evaluation (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-magenta-book)

DHSC evaluation strategy 2026: This evaluation strategy sets out the Department of Health and Social Care's (DHSC) vision for high-quality evaluation of its policies, programmes and projects (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-evaluation-strategy-2026)

Intelligence-Informed Delivery Organisation Engagement 

Version 1 of the Engagement Framework is being piloted in four regions (East of England, North London, North West & South West Peninsula).  The pilot will run from 01/08/26 until 30/11/26 and feedback from the pilot will be incorporated prior to national release.

Operating Framework and Assurance

Operating Framework Contributor Guidance

Operating Framework Q&A