The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) commissioned the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) to undertake an impact evaluation of the Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS) and the European Social Survey (ESS) focusing on the extent to which research utilising WERS and ESS data has influenced policy and practice across the UK to date. Specifically, the research was designed to:• Identify and study specific policy and practice impacts, and the potential for the same arising from WERS and ESS data• Study the mechanisms through which WERS and ESS have achieved and could in the future achieve impact through the use of data by other organisations and individuals based in the UK.• Identify the range of organisations and/or individuals who have made use of the WERS and ESS, and the ways in which the data have been used within the UK.• Study the role of think tanks, and other intermediaries and knowledge brokers, as transmission routes through which WERS and ESS data may have influenced policy, through comparative activity, identify best practice and lessons for impact generation within research infrastructure investments.• Critically reflect upon the methods used to assess and identify research infrastructure impact.This report summarises the findings of the study
