The number of people living with low wellbeing in the UK remains worryingly high. Despite some improvements in recent years, the latest data suggests there are still around 2.8 million adults living with low wellbeing in 2026. This means that the UK continues to have around 350,000 more adults struggling with the lowest levels of wellbeing than prior to the pandemic. Concerns about health, elevated levels of loneliness and growing financial pressures as everyday costs of living continue to rise are leaving many people feeling unsatisfied and unhappy

Alongside this, the systems and structures people rely on to help when they’re struggling are also struggling to cope. Public services continue to groan under the strain of demand, with patients continuing to report long waits for mental health support and backlogs across a range of services, from processes around special educational needs to getting justice through the courts. This strain on public services is, in turn, putting increased pressure on the social sector. Charities report facing increased financial pressure, with incomes failing to keep up with rising costs and increasing demand for support.

And this is unlikely to be a situation that the UK can spend its way out of. With government debts already at historically high levels, rising costs of repayments and a stuttering global economy unsettled by geo-political tensions, there is limited room to manoeuvre for the Chancellor at next month’s Budget.

All this creates a challenging backdrop as we take over as Interim Co-CEOs of PBE. But it also highlights why PBE’s role is so critical. In a world where government and charities need to spend better rather than just spend more, evidence on what issues make the biggest difference to people’s lives and what types of support make the biggest difference is crucial for policymakers.

In many ways, this makes our role simple – we will ensure that PBE keeps doing what it does best, collaborating with other organisations to provide rigorous evidence that can be used to bring about improvements in the wellbeing of people living in the UK.

Here are some of the ways we intend to do this as we move into 2027:

Children and young people’s mental health

As our recent report showed, cutting corners on children and young people’s mental health services is a false economy. Yet, in 2023, around two thirds of young people didn’t receive the support they need. These gaps in treatment have an estimated economic cost of around £56 billion.

We will continue to work with organisations tackling the causes and consequences of the long-term decline in children and young people’s mental health. We want to help ensure that organisations providing this essential support are funded effectively, while also ensuring that more is done to understand and address the underlying causes of the deterioration in young people’s mental health over the last two decades

Loneliness

Nearly four million adults in Great Britain state that they often or always feel lonely and this has been rising over time. This epidemic of loneliness not only has significant impacts on the wellbeing of the nation, it likely also has dramatic impacts on demand for health services and the wider economy.

We believe loneliness should be much higher on the public health agenda. In 2027 we’ll do more to understand the recent trends, helping to update the picture of which groups in society are struggling most and where levels of loneliness have failed to recover following the pandemic. We’ll also help build the evidence base on what we can do to tackle loneliness and reverse the trends we’ve seen over the last decade.

Households in financial distress

In 2025, around a quarter of adults in Britain said they were finding it difficult to get by financially at the moment. And that is before the UK begins to feel the full shockwaves of the USA-Iran conflict on energy and food prices. This matters because, not only do we know that getting behind on bills has a measurable impact on wellbeing, it also has a potential impact on people’s ability to make effective decisions and to be productive and safe at work.

Over the next few months, we will be working to build the evidence base on the economic impacts of financial distress, and use it to highlight the impact of organisations working to support these households.

Arts and culture 

Almost one in five adults report using not-for-profit arts, culture, leisure and sports services each year. Evaluations we’ve completed of organisations that use the arts to support young people suggest they can have transformative effects on wellbeing, with potential for some of the largest economic benefits we’ve ever seen. Yet, despite its scale and potentially life-changing impacts, it’s often still perceived as a luxury or a “nice-to-have”.

We are starting a programme of work to try and turn this perception around. We will look to build new evidence that quantifies the impact of the arts and culture sector on people’s lives and the broader economy. The evidence we find will help to make the case for seeing the arts and culture sector as something essential to our society and our economy, while working to support more organisations working in the sector to measure and communicate their impact more effectively.

The role of the social sector

Our connection with the social sector sits at the heart of everything we do. We fundamentally believe that a vibrant, influential social sector is essential to tackling low wellbeing and a range of the country’s most complex and difficult challenges. We are proud of our history of strengthening evidence on what works, bringing economic and impact expertise to even the smallest grassroots organisations through our volunteering and training programmes.

We are also optimistic that there will be continued opportunities for the sector to play an influential role working in partnership with the current government. Anoushka Kenley’s blog from earlier this year clearly outlined what Andy Burnham has said in the past about the need for the social sector to sit at the heart of both public service delivery and public policy making.

However, we also recognise that many charities and social sector organisations are facing a perfect storm of rising costs, rising demand and weakening income. Over the next few months, we will be doing more to help charities, funders and policymakers better understand the impacts that the wider economic environment is likely to have on demand for charity services, their staff and the income they can expect to receive. We will also be exploring what happens when these pressures become unsustainable, asking the question: “what does a good ending look like for an organisation in the social sector”?

The way forward

Throughout all of this, our ambition is not to change what makes PBE successful. Rather, it is to build on the strong foundations that already exist. We want PBE to remain a trusted partner, a respected source of evidence, and a passionate advocate for understanding what works to improve lives and strengthen communities. 

The future of PBE is incredibly exciting. We are fortunate to have an outstanding team, inspiring partners and a clear sense of purpose. We look forward to working with all of you as we continue to generate evidence, deepen understanding and help create a society in which everyone has the opportunity to thrive.