Every year, the UK consulting industry’s representative body hosts an award ceremony to recognise the nation’s best consulting firms, projects and consultants. After a record number of entries were submitted for the 2021 edition, the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has now announced the firms to have made the final short-list for its top prizes, which will be handed out on November 1st 2021.

Tamzen Isacsson, Chief Executive of the MCA, said of the news, “The outstanding examples of consulting work in this year’s awards highlight why the UK has one of the largest and most respected consultancy sectors globally. Backed by clients, across the public and private sector, these case studies demonstrate how consultants have gone above and beyond to deliver excellent client service during one of the most unprecedented periods in history. We look forward to celebrating this talent and the efforts delivered by our industry at our awards ceremony later in the year.”

32 consulting firms named finalists for MCA Awards 2021

Participation in the MCA Awards spans across membership with entries coming from a wide range of firms, with large, small and medium sized firms all supporting the industry’s key awards event. The number of submissions for consideration by the MCA’s judges spiked by 46% compared to the 2020 event, and one of the factors behind the spike in entrants may well be the increased focus on individuals of the awards, and the two new categories relating to the coronavirus response of the industry.

As is often the case, the world’s largest professional services firms look set for a particularly strong performance at the ceremony. However, as was also the case in the ceremony’s latest outings, the short-list is a long way off of simply being dominated by the Big Four of Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG. Indeed, 28 other high-flying member firms are also represented in MCA’s short-list.

Notable examples include IBM, which was nominated for 10 prizes – the most awards behind PwC, EY and Deloitte who received 24, 22 and 16 respectively – as well as a number of leading SMEs. Carnall Farrar, Credera, Proxima Group, Vendigital and Inner Circle Consulting all picked up multiple nods from the jury too.

Elsewhere, on top of the 22 categories hosted at the last MCA Awards, two new award categories have been added in recognition of the work done by the MCA’s members during the pandemic. One honours exceptional support and delivery by a consulting firm to a client in the public or private sector during Covid-19, while an additional prize will honour the contribution of an individual to consulting engagements addressing client challenges created by the pandemic.

Reflecting on the consulting industry’s impact on the UK’s economic performance during the crisis, Lord Grimstone, Minister of Investment at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, added, “These awards recognise fantastic work in what has been a year like no other... The government is grateful for all the sector’s contributions to tackling the pandemic and I am pleased the value of this work is being celebrated by these awards.”

The full list of this year’s nominees of the MCA Awards 2021 are:

Projects

Best Use of Thought Leadership

  • Arup with Lloyd’s Register Foundation

  • Carnall Farrar with Cancer – IPPR

  • Deloitte with Shell

  • EY with Decoding the Digital Home

  • KPMG with Sanofi Genzyme and Regeneron

  • PwC with Strategy & Where Next?

Change and Transformation in the Private Sector

  • Arca Blanca with Tharsus

  • Aveas Partners with Legal & General

  • BearingPoint with Welsh Water

  • Deloitte with Co-op

  • Proxima Group with EFG Bank

  • PwC with Capita

  • PwC with Shell Energy

  • Sysdoc with a Global Automotive Company

Change and Transformation in the Public Sector

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  • Arup with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

  • Atos with the Home Office

  • EY with Enfield Council

  • IBM Services with Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC)

  • IMPOWER with Lincolnshire County Council

  • PwC with ABRSM

Commercial Excellence

  • Curzon Consulting with AIG

  • EY with a Leading Telecommunications Company

  • IBM with a Global Pharmaceutical Company

  • PwC with the Ministry of Defence

  • Vendigital with Protean Electric

Data and Innovation in the Private Sector

  • BearingPoint with Jaguar Land Rover

  • Deloitte with Virgin Media

  • PwC with Jaguar Land Rover

Data and Innovation in Public Sector

  • Arup with The Greater London Authority

  • Atos with Sussex Police

  • EY with Maidstone Borough Council

  • NECS Consultancy with NHSE /DHSC

  • North Highland with the Financial Conduct Authority

International

  • Deloitte with Mologic

  • EY with Kraft Heinz Company

  • Procura Consulting

  • PwC with Dentsu

Performance Improvement in the Private Sector

  • Deloitte with Penlon

  • EY with Boots

  • Gobeyond Partners with Sunbelt Rentals

  • PwC with Royal Mail

  • PwC with Absa RBB

  • Vendigital with Bombardier Transportation

Performance Improvement in the Public Sector

  • Credera with the NHS

  • EY with the Health Service Executive

  • IBM Services with the Department for Work and Pensions

  • IMPOWER with Oxfordshire County Council

  • North Highland with the Intellectual Property Office

  • PwC with the Metropolitan Police Service

  • PwC with North Lanarkshire Council

People

  • Atkins with Connect Plus Services Ltd

  • Curzon Consulting with Highways England

  • Deloitte with Mondelez

  • Gobeyond Partners with HSBC

  • PwC and Pharma Client – Future Ready

  • Unleash & Engage with Tata Strip UK

Social Value

  • Deloitte with The Big Exchange

  • EY with National Forensic Mental Health Service

  • EY with Transform with Unilever and the FDCO

  • Inner Circle Consulting with Nourish Food and Community Hub

  • PwC with Westminster City Council

Strategy

  • Arca Blanca with Landsec

  • Carnall Farrar with BHRUT (NHS)

  • Deloitte with Prince’s Trust

  • EY with ESB Networks

  • Inner Circle Consulting with London Borough of Hounslow

  • Mason Advisory with The Weir Group

  • NECS Consultancy with NHSE/I

  • PwC with The Courtauld Institute of Art

Individuals

Young Consultant of the Year

  • Georgia Hughes, Arcadis

  • Jemma Goldstein, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

  • Saher Naumaan, BAE Systems Applied Intelligence

  • Zahra Safarfashandi, Carnall Farrar

  • Kajol Patel, Deloitte

  • Simon Wilson, EY

  • Hannah Steiner, EY

  • Andrew Mistry, Inner Circle Consulting

  • Fraser Porte, Mott MacDonald

  • Luke Abbott, Procura Consulting

  • Mary Agbesanwa, PwC

Best New Apprentice

  • Cameron Edgar, Deloitte

  • Tommy Chaggar, Deloitte

  • Hassan Kamara, EY

  • Kate Haynes, IBM Services

  • Abdul Hassan, KPMG

  • David McIntosh, KPMG

Rising Star

  • Joseph Riou, BearingPoint

  • Simon Munk, Carnall Farrar

  • Donald Taylor, IBM Services

  • Hannah Austin, IBM Services

  • Cheryl Bannerman, Inner Circle Consulting

  • Safia Mirza, KPMG

  • Tom Chambers, Mason Advisory

  • Charles Griffiths-Lambeth, Simon-Kucher & Partners

  • Sam Calderwood, Simon-Kucher & Partners

  • Andy Roderick, Vendigital

Team Leader Consultant of the Year

  • Maja Naomi Wood, Amey Consulting

  • Konrad Petrusewicz, Credera

  • Lucy Traynor, Deloitte

  • Rachel Brian, Deloitte

  • Joanna Liu, EY

  • Vishali Jivan, KPMG

  • Julie Craig, Proxima Group

  • Esther Titchen, PwC

  • Pamela Thomas, PwC

  • Matt Flynn, Vendigital

Thought Leader Consultant of the Year

  • Scott Bentley, Carnall Farrar

  • Mohammad Syed, Credera

  • Zeinab Chaudhary, Deloitte

  • Paul Micallef, EY

  • Leo Jones, IMPOWER

  • Simon Geale, Proxima Group

  • Eduardo Rodriguez Montemayor, PwC

Innovation Consultant of the Year

  • Chris Madelin, Deloitte

  • Luke Teacy, Deloitte

  • Leo Tagg, EY

  • Mayank Dwivedi, EY

  • Reshma Mahapatra, EY

  • Atif Rashid, Gobeyond Partners

  • Liz Ajayi, PwC

  • Nele Van Buggenhout, PwC

  • Gaynor Ratcliffe, Sysdoc

Outstanding Achievement

  • Josh Nicholson, Credera

  • Julie Searle, EY

  • Kevin Hall, IBM Services

  • Evelyn John, PwC

  • Simon Geale, Proxima Group

Covid-19 Support

Exceptional Support and Delivery to a Client During Covid-19

  • BAE Systems Applied Intelligence with the Home Office / Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FC(D)O)

  • Carnall Farrar with the London COVID team (NHS)

  • EY with the Health Service Executive

  • EY with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

  • IBM Services with the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC)

  • Propaganda with Roberts Bakery

  • PwC with the British Business Bank

  • PwC with Help NHS Heroes: Pop-up Shops

Exceptional Support and Delivery by a Consultant During Covid-19

  • Becky Taylor, Carnall Farrar

  • James Breeze, Credera

  • Henry Dowlen, EY

  • Kevin Hall, IBM Services

  • Jen Hipkiss, IBM Services

  • John Lewin, NECS Consultancy

  • Raj Mann, PwC

Overall

  • Best New Consultancy

  • Mason Advisory

  • Upside

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