Performance and Impact Framework

1.1. The RDN Performance and Impact Framework provides a consistent, proportionate system of accountability and support that enables effective monitoring of research delivery at national and regional levels, and communication of the difference that it makes. It acts as a single framework that defines shared data standards, monitoring and evaluation approaches and feedback loops to enable the RDN to explain how its work creates real-world outcomes and impact for people, partners, and the economy, so leaders and all staff can make better decisions, learn what works, and strengthen future delivery.

1.2. The Framework will enable RDN to build a clear, evidence-based understanding of how RDN activities contribute to outcomes and in time, impact which will support RDN staff to:

• Demonstrate the difference made by public investment in the RDN

• Tell the ‘whole performance and impact story’ by evidencing how inputs and outputs will lead to outcomes and impact

• Be transparent about RDN performance, progress and added value to DHSC, customers and stakeholders

• Make informed decisions and take corrective action by providing evidence of what has worked, what has not worked, and any contributing factors

• Deliver consistently and learn, adapt, and continuously improve

1.3. Crucially, this framework makes a distinction between monitoring and evaluation, and between performance and impact. In direct response to DHSC guidance, this framework avoids creating an overly complicated, bureaucratic "industry" of monitoring and reporting. Instead, it is designed to be simple, dynamic and proportionate, aligning with the NIHR’s five operating principles: Impact, Excellence, Inclusion, Collaboration, and Effectiveness.

1.4. The Framework sets out the nation-wide approach to evidencing the difference the RDN makes in a holistic and systemic way. Monitoring and responding to our collective performance and contractual compliance (enabled by our performance measures and indicators), supports the analysis and evaluation of the value of the RDN, which informs the continuous learning of the Network, and ultimately the ability to accurately demonstrate the RDN’s impact. 

1.5. The Framework will enable RDN (12 RRDNs and RDNCC) to have a clear evidence-based understanding of how well our activities are delivering their planned outputs, and whether or not they are having the intended outcomes and desired longer-term impact. 

1.6. The Framework supports transparency in our performance and the shaping of our identity and also has links with the RDN Behaviours Framework and our culture, for example by promoting and supporting the embedding of monitoring and review of progress and reflective practice to drive improvement.

2.1. It is important that in a Network as distributed and large as the NIHR RDN, working within a complex system, we have a consistent shared language and an understanding of the political and wider context in which we operate. This shared understanding will enable the RDN to clearly articulate the outputs, outcomes and impact from its activities, and to use this information to continuously learn and improve our services and to evidence the difference we make to DHSC, system partners and the public. 

2.2. To ensure the Network speaks a common language and can quickly respond to DHSC or ministerial requests (which often require rapid "two-line briefings"), all core performance data and impact examples must be consistently tagged against a stable set of taxonomies.

2.3. These categories are:

• The Government's ‘3 Shifts’: Hospital to Community, Analogue to Digital, Treatment to Prevention outlined in Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, which support the Government’s health and growth missions.

• The NIHR's ‘4 Is’: these underpin the work of the NIHR by driving funding and delivery of research that benefits the NHS, public health, and social care, fostering a more inclusive, effective, and economically valuable research environment.

  • Impact: NIHR research changes lives and improves quality of life for the nation

  • Innovation: NIHR powers the UK’s world-leading reputation for life sciences, health and innovation

  • Investment: NIHR research saves money, attracts investment and powers economic growth

  • Inclusion: NIHR is funded by the public for the public, working with everyone in our society

•  The 7 NIHR Strategic Priority Areas:

  • Building on lessons from the COVID-19 response

  • Strengthening preventative, public health, and social care research

  • Improving care for people with multiple long-term conditions

  • Expanding clinical research to under-served regions and communities

  • Embedding equality, diversity, and inclusion

  • Strengthening careers for research delivery staff

  • Expanding collaboration with the life sciences industry.

2.4. By adhering to these taxonomies, the RDN ensures its reporting and communication remains relevant regardless of shifting government language or short-term priorities.

2.5. The following terms are central to Performance and Impact: 

• Aims; the broad, overarching goals, the ‘what’ and ‘where’ you are headed - the end result or destination you want to achieve or reach. Often long-term, aspirational and aligned with an organisation’s vision. Our aims are the NIHR’s 7 strategic priority areas.

• Objectives; specific, measurable actions that help achieve aims, the ‘how’ - the detailed steps or milestones to be achieved along the way to your aim(s), i.e. the commitments in our Strategic Plan.

• Metrics; a specific, quantifiable data point used to measure or track the status of a particular process or activity, such as the ‘number of Global and European First participants recruited to RDN-supported studies.’

• Indicators; one or more quantitative metric or qualitative evidence used to signal the degree of progress, or highlight trends, relative to organisational objectives. Often used to assess health, progress, or change. 

• Inputs; the resources needed for activities, such as funding, staff, and technology.

• Activities; the specific actions carried out, such as training, data collection, and matching researchers with suitable research sites.

• Outputs; the results (products or deliverables) of activities, such as the number of researchers matched with suitable research sites, or the number of GCP programmes delivered.

• Outcomes; the measurable effects resulting from RDN activities.

• Impact; the long-term effect of an outcome, or wider strategic changes.

3.1.1. While the responsibility for various indicators and performance reports, assurance mechanisms or evaluations sits with particular groups, we all can provide insight into how our roles and the activities we contribute to result in a benefit to the wider health and care system and UK economy. The detail below sets out how to do this.

4.1.1. Effective monitoring requires clear traceability from planning to impact. This framework connects directly to the 12 RRDN Plans and the RDNCC Annual Business Plan, which with staff job descriptions and the work of the 27 RDN Functions (overseen by the 12 RDN Delivery Groups), collectively sets out all of the expected work of the Network and enables us to understand the scope and scale of the work of the RDN.

4.1.2. Crucially, to justify the millions of pounds in annual investment, these plans and subsequent reports must capture the Network's scope and scale. Capturing the breadth of the activities delivered by the RDN infrastructure will enable the Network to accurately demonstrate the extent of our work, and is a prerequisite for understanding and demonstrating the full scale of our impact.

4.1.3. Effective planning is a prerequisite for meaningful monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) as it establishes the necessary causal link between daily activities and long-term strategic aims, ensuring the RDN is pro-actively collecting the data and intelligence rather than attempting to reconstruct evidence retrospectively. This foresight will allow the Network to articulate intended outcomes (e.g. through our RDN Strategic Indicators) before work begins, ensuring that activities contribute to these outcomes, and providing the traceability from planning to impact required to demonstrate value to stakeholders such as DHSC. With this integration, planning is a roadmap for measurable positive change.

5.1.1. This section defines the actionable metrics used to monitor if the RDN is on track to meet its commitments and measure its success. It intentionally excludes delivery organisation metrics, as taking responsibility for the performance of individual delivery organisations is out of scope for the RDN. There are 3 types of measurement:

• NIHR RDN Strategic Indicators (External): These measure progress against the 5-Year RDN Strategic Plan. 

• NIHR RRDN Host Assurance Indicators (Internal): These monitor contractual compliance. They rely on RRDN self-reporting to ensure Host Organisations are providing necessary support, such as appropriate staffing structures, high-quality premises, and responsive corporate services (such as HR, Finance, IT).

• NIHR RDNCC Performance Indicators (External): These measures are specific to the performance of the RDNCC and relate to the level of delivery of various services, such as Voluntary supplier personnel FTE attrition rate, Financial management of the RDNCC, ICT systems operations and availability, and Equal Opportunity.

5.1.2. Collectively, the above indicators and measures cover all parts of the RDN (the 12 RRDNs and the RDN Coordinating Centre). For completeness, the Framework includes assurance indicators relating to the support services RRDN Hosts provide to the RRDNs. (Note: RRDN Host organisations are separate legal entities and not part of the RDN.) 

5.2. NIHR RDN Strategic Indicators (External)

These indicators are the RDN’s primary indicators. They are mapped to the NIHR seven areas of strategic focus and the commitments in the RDN 5-Year Strategic Plan. The NIHR RDN Strategic Plan is designed to achieve key commitments within 5 years that will deliver on the NIHR’s strategic priorities. In doing so the NIHR RDN will play a vital role in delivering against government commitments set out in Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan for England, the Plan for Change and the Life Sciences Sector Plan.

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5.3. NIHR RDN Host Assurance Indicators (Internal)

5.3.1. These indicators provide a shared rubric for reviewing and supporting RRDN Host Organisations in their role. By working through this rubric together, all parties can ensure a mutual commitment to the expectations detailed in Section 3 (Work Programme) of the DHSC/ RRDN Host Contract and the Performance and Operating Framework.

5.3.2. These indicators will support indicator 5 of Schedule 6 (Performance Measurement and Monitoring) of the DHSC/ RDNCC Contract.

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5.4. NIHR RDNCC Performance Indicators (External)

5.4.1. The RDN Coordinating Centre (RDNCC) Performance Indicators, a suite of 14 indicators specific to the performance of the RDNCC, were implemented from 2024/25 Q1, and are set out in Annex 1 to Part A: of Schedule 6 of the DHSC/RDNCC Contract (last updated via Variation 002, executed 27/08/2025).

5.4.2. They are considered ‘Publishable Performance Information’ meaning any of the information in performance monitoring reporting as it relates to a Performance Indicator in the table shall not constitute Commercially Sensitive Information.

5.4.3. Variation 002 of the NIHR RDNCC Performance Indicators. 

6.1.1. This section operationalises the capture of real-world outcomes and the longer-term horizon of impacts that cannot be fully measured by metrics alone.

6.1.2. Embedding the principles of a logic model (see Figure 1) supports the RDN to map how daily activities translate into long-term health and economic benefits. This requires staff to plan ahead and ensure we collect the necessary data from the outset.

Figure 1. Example of a Logic Model

6.1.3. A coherent and coordinated approach to Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning enables the RDN to demonstrate its value to DHSC, system partners, and the public. Supporting collective oversight of the outcomes and emerging impact of RDN work, and aligning regional and national learning efforts enables the aggregation of data and insights to build a clear, evidence-based understanding of the value that the RDN as a whole brings to the health and care system. This collective oversight will be supported by:

6.1.4. The RDN Impact Repository: a searchable dashboard housing verified, user-agnostic impact summaries and ‘moment in time’ updates, accessible to all RDN staff. RDN colleagues will identify examples that demonstrate the added value of RDN activities, which will then go through a pragmatic, proportionate process of validation, including tagging against standard taxonomies (Section 2) before inclusion in the Repository.

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6.1.5. Collectively, this approach to recording and centrally collating robust, reliable data and intelligence from RDN staff nation-wide will provide the insights to inform continuous learning and improvement to best meet RDN customers’ needs. Additionally, it will enable us to evidence and tell the story about the difference the RDN makes internally and externally.

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6.2. Monitoring

6.2.1. Monitoring refers to the routine collection and review of resources, activities and data to track progress against plans. This should be proportionate and pragmatic, by using existing data and insights including the indicators and measures outlined in Section 5, feedback from RDN customers and stakeholders and UKCRD RDDI metrics, among other sources where needed.

6.2.2. The understanding of what data and intelligence should be collected will be informed by a logic model, i.e. what information is needed to understand if this activity is on track to meet the intended outcomes.

6.2.3. Consistent approaches to providing evidence are needed so that the information is aggregatable and able to be stored centrally and available to all RDN staff nation-wide, for example in CPMS and regular reporting against the RDN Strategic Indicators.

6.3. Evaluation

6.3.1. Evaluation is the analysis and assessment of the data and insights collected through the process of monitoring in order to judge the effectiveness, outcomes and value of an activity. Evaluations will have a clear purpose or question and defined scope, and will be aligned to established organisational priorities. 

6.3.2. Evaluations are crucial for understanding the value of an activity or workstream: ‘how, why and for whom’ is the piece of work bringing a benefit? Findings from evaluations will feed into learning to inform decision-making, improve performance, ensure accountability, and guide future actions.

6.4. Learning

6.4.1. Learning is the process through which information generated from monitoring and evaluation is reflected upon and intentionally used to continuously improve. Intelligence is used to inform adaptations, updates, and improvements to future planning, performance measurement and the delivery of activities.

6.4.2. Learning is enabled through regular and responsive feedback loops. This includes standardised reporting to established governance structures, for example the RDN Oversight Committee and regional Management Groups.

6.4.3. These processes support leaders to make strategic, intelligence-informed decisions about where to focus effort and investment, and where to change course if needed.

6.5. Impact of investment

6.5.1. As part of the continuous evolution of the single RDN Performance and Impact Framework, the RDN is committed to robustly demonstrating the value of its infrastructure to the health and care system, the economy, and the public. 

6.5.2. We are currently scoping a phased programme of work and the data requirements and internal mechanisms necessary to articulate, for example, the RDN’s Return on Investment (RoI), Value for Money, and the broader impact of our strategic funding.

7.1.1. The various elements of the Framework (e.g. plans and indicators) will make clear what RDN should be delivering on and what good looks like for the RDN. Data collection and insights must drive operational change and improvement. 

7.1.2. For example, using an intelligence-led approach, the RDN will integrate delivery planning with performance insights to inform Delivery Organisation (DO) engagement. When performance data indicates a need, the RDN will deploy targeted and proactive support to DOs, such as diagnostics, buddying with higher-performing sites, or co-designed interventions. However, the boundary of intervention is clear: the RDN's success is measured by the provision of this intelligence-led support, and the difference it made, not by taking responsibility for the ultimate study delivery or performance of the delivery organisation.

8.1.1. Data and insights will be regularly reported to (and reviewed by) the RDN Board, the Oversight Committee, and the DHSC Contract Management Board to ensure risks are mitigated and resources are optimally deployed.

8.1.2. While this Performance and Impact Framework defines what we measure and why, the specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and other guides for executing these activities are housed in the dynamic NIHR RDN Operating Framework. NIHR RDN staff should refer to the Operating Framework for detail on how RDN Functions and Services are expected to operate.