This article presents definitions of wellbeing and measures of wellbeing, discusses how wellbeing in the UK can be improved, explores some of the challenges of implementing a wellbeing approach and discusses areas for further research and development. The paper also notes that based on the evidence from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing's three year evidence programme employers can do the following to improve employee wellbeing: provide high quality jobs, train leaders, provide shared activities, encourage a healthy lifestyle and minimise problems for struggling workers. The document also highlights how individuals can improve their wellbeing using the Five Ways to Wellbeing. The article concludes with a list of wellbeing priority areas: work, income, society and governance, emotional-mental health and relationships and communities.

This article explores how the UK is faring in important areas of well-being compared with the member states of the European Union (EU) and the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In November 2010, the ONS set up the Measuring National Wellbeing Programme to monitor and report UK progress by producing accepted and trusted measures of the wellbeing of the nation. The ONS have pioneered the measurement of well-being in the UK in addition to traditional measures of prosperity, enabling policy-makers to make better, more well-informed decisions.

The all-party parliamentary group examined how wellbeing evidence can be translated into policy in four areas: labour market policy, planning and transport policy, mindfulness in health and education, and arts and culture policy. Evidence that was reviewed was prepared by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) Centre for Wellbeing. The report explores what a wellbeing approach to policy means and why it matters and presents the findings for each of the four policy areas.