Improving adult numeracy through the Multiply consortium

Overview

Multiply was the UK government’s flagship programme to improve adult numeracy, funded by the Department for Education through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and delivered in England by the Department for Education.^[1] Alongside large-scale delivery of free and flexible numeracy provision, the programme included a substantial research and evaluation component designed to strengthen the evidence base on what works to improve adult numeracy outcomes.

The Multiply consortium brought together leading research and evaluation organisations to assess the feasibility and design, as well as to manage and deliver a programme of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and other experimental and quasi-experimental studies. This work aimed to generate high-quality, policy-relevant evidence to inform future adult skills policy and investment decisions.

Objectives

The core objectives of the Multiply consortium’s work were to:

• Generate robust, high-quality evidence on the impact of specific interventions designed to engage, motivate and teach essential maths skills to adults.
• Understand the feasibility, opportunities and challenges of implementing trials within the adult education sector.
• Support broader efforts to ensure value for money in adult education by identifying what works.

These objectives align with the wider aims of the Multiply programme to increase functional numeracy across the adult population and improve labour market outcomes.

The Multiply consortium

The Multiply Education Research Trials were delivered through a partnership of organisations with expertise in education research, evaluation and labour market analysis. The programme was led by Ipsos, working in partnership with RAND Europe, King’s College London, The Learning and Work Institute, and The Institute for Employment Studies. Additional partners supported provider recruitment and trial delivery.

RAND Europe’s involvement

As part of the Multiply consortium, RAND Europe played a dual role, combining primary research delivery with independent quality assurance.

RAND Europe led a series of trial feasibility assessments, in addition to a more in-depth feasibility study of the Count Me In (CMI) programme, a numeracy intervention designed to improve numeracy skills among people in prison. Commissioned by the Department for Education and funded through Multiply, this work assessed whether the CMI programme could be robustly evaluated through a randomised controlled trial in custodial settings. The study involved a staged feasibility assessment, including in‑prison fieldwork, observations and engagement with learners, peer mentors and staff, to inform decisions about trial design and implementation in prisons.

In addition to leading this research, RAND Europe served in a quality assurance role across the consortium’s research outputs, drawing on its established standards for rigorous, independent research. This included reviewing and assessing reports produced by other consortium partners to support methodological robustness, analytical clarity and consistency with agreed research standards across the Multiply evidence programme.

Timeline and outputs

The Adult Numeracy Trials were funded through the government’s Multiply programme, which ran from April 2022 to March 2025 and provided free numeracy courses for adult learners across England. Funding for the research element was in place until March 2026 with findings expected to be shared by the Department for Education in 2026. The outputs will contribute to the national evidence base on adult numeracy and inform future policy development and programme design.

Note

1. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) was introduced in April 2022 by the UK government as a key component of the Levelling Up agenda. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund was focused on 3 pillars – communities and place, local businesses, and people and skills – with the Multiply programme incorporated under the latter. Return to content ⤴