Table 2.
Value of life in the UK
| No | Area | Source | Relevance | Type of estimate | Stated value (£) | Year | 2019/2020 Value* (£) | VOLY (£) | VSL (£) | QALY (£) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Health | NICE | Threshold used to assess ‘normal’ treatments | QALY | 20,000–30,000 | 2013 | 20,000–30,000 | 18,399–27,599 | 663,351–995,027 | 20,000–30,000 |
| 2 | Health | NICE | Threshold used to assess ‘end-of-life’ treatments**** | QALY | 50,000 | 2013 | 50,000 | 45,998 | 1,658,378–3,316,756 | 50,000 |
| 3 | Health | NICE | Threshold used to assess ‘highly specialised technologies’ | QALY | 100,000–300,000 | 2017 | 100,000–300,000 | 91,996–275,988 | 3,316,756–9,950,268 | 100,000–300,000 |
| 4 | Health | HM Treasury | Health-related appraisal (Green Book) | QALY | 60,000 | 2018 | 60,000 | 55,198 | 1,990,054 | 60,000 |
| 5 | Health | HM Treasury | Health-related appraisal (Green Book) | QALY | 70,000** | 2022 | 70,000 | 64,397 | 2,321,729 | 70,000 |
| 6 | Health | DHSC | Adopted in relevant Impact Assessments | QALY | 15,000*** | 2016 | 15,000 | 13,799 | 497,513 | 15,000 |
| 7 | Transport | HM Treasury/DfT | Social cost–benefit analysis (Green Book) | VPF | 2,064,189 | 2020 | 2,064,189 | 67,650 | 2,064,189 | 73,535 |
| 8 | Environment | Defra | Valuing life lost due to chronic effects of air pollution | VOLY | 42,780 | 2017 | 45,343 | 45,343 | 1,383,543 | 49,288 |
| 9 | Environment | Defra | Valuing life lost due to acute effects of air pollution | VOLY | 22,110 | 2017 | 23,435 | 23,435 | 715,068 | 25,474 |
| 10 | Other | HM Treasury | Social cost–benefit analysis (Green Book) | SLY | 60,000 | 2018 | 60,000 | 60,000 | 1,830,770 | 65,220 |
*Values were only updated to 2019/2020 values if they were not already up to date, and if guidance suggests that this is required/appropriate. Only the values in italics were adjusted. Values in bold are the original values, after adjustments. A discount rate of 1.5% and life expectancy of 81.1 were used in calculations. All values are in local currency
**This reference was introduced after the conclusion of our document search and analysis. As it is an inflationary adjustment of the threshold No. 4, this figure has not been included in the analysis
***We could not identify an official document recommending the use of this supply-side threshold—beyond its use in impact assessment reports. We include the figure here for completeness. However, since impact assessment reports were beyond the scope of our search for other countries, we do not include this threshold in our analysis, as a matter of consistency
****This has nowadays been replaced by a severity adjustment that has the same budget impact as a £50,000 threshold