Advice and Guidance
Independent expert support for sensitive or complex consultations — delivery support, risk assessment, board facilitation, and executive briefings.
The Consultation Institute
Independent assurance for public consultations.
tCI helps public bodies run fair, lawful consultations with independent quality assurance, accredited training, and clear advisory support that stands up to scrutiny.
22
Years of expertise
Two decades of recognised practice in consultation standards, with the bench of senior practitioners that comes with it.
5,000+
Practitioners trained
Across 66 local authorities, 40 NHS bodies, and 10 fire and rescue services. CPD accredited by CIPR and tCI.
High Court
Recognised by the courts
tCI's Quality Assurance process has stood up to judicial review at the highest level of public scrutiny.
Public bodies that have worked with the Institute
CPD accredited by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations · tCI's Quality Assurance process recognised by the High Court
Twenty years of expertise in consultation standards, applied to the decisions that have to hold up at scrutiny.
Independent assurance, accredited training, and advisory work for public bodies and infrastructure promoters. The kind of consultations that get tested in court, in the press, and on committee benches.
Independent
We sit outside the project. Our assurance reviews and advisory work are not constrained by the outcome the client would prefer.
Specialist
Consultation law and practice is what we do. Decades of senior experience on contested service change in the NHS, councils, transport, and infrastructure.
Evidence-led
Reviews are mapped to the Gunning Principles, statutory duties, and the tCI Consultation Charter. The same lens is applied through the lifecycle.
Defensible
Statements of Assurance are written so they hold up to scrutiny, judicial review, and media interest. That is the standard we work to.
Services
All services
Three services, one standard.
Why tCI
Built to be the body that public consultations get tested against.
We exist to raise the standard of consultation practice. We do not deliver consultations on behalf of our clients. That separation is what makes a tCI Statement of Assurance mean something.
Senior practitioners
Faculty members have all held frontline consultation roles in NHS Trusts and ICBs, councils, transport authorities, fire and rescue, infrastructure, or central government before joining tCI.
Mapped to the Gunning Principles
Reviews and training are explicitly aligned to the Gunning Principles, the relevant statutory duties, and the tCI Consultation Charter.
High Court recognition
tCI's Quality Assurance process has been recognised by the High Court. Our training is required for accreditation in some NHS job descriptions.
Defensible decisions
Statements of Assurance are written so they hold up to scrutiny, judicial review, and media interest. Decision-makers get evidence they can stand behind.
How an assurance review works
A structured engagement, mapped to consultation law.
Each stage is designed to give boards, scrutiny bodies, and stakeholders the evidence they need that a consultation is fair, lawful, and defensible.
1
Scope
We agree the scope, timeline, and risk profile of your consultation before starting. Reviews are mapped to the Gunning Principles and the relevant statutory duties.
2
Review
Document review, governance check, and stage-by-stage testing. We surface risk early and give the team a clear set of recommendations to act on.
3
Sign-off
A written Statement of Assurance that boards, scrutiny bodies, and decision-makers can rely on under public, political, and legal scrutiny.
4
Defend
If a decision is challenged, the assurance trail is there. We have stood behind clients through judicial review and contested local authority committee scrutiny.
Client feedback
Feedback from public bodies tCI has worked with.
Health, local government, and infrastructure clients on assurance, training, and advisory engagements.
The Institute has provided us with such sound advice. Their recommendations have been tremendously helpful.
The confidence of having the backing of tCI has been so helpful for us to give feedback to scrutiny from councillors and our own committees about the process.
tCI's assistance has been invaluable. It complements our expertise and means we can address high-profile, controversial consultations with confidence.
Get in touch
Talk to us early about consultations that have to withstand scrutiny.
We will scope an assurance review, training programme, or advisory engagement against your timeline, governance cycle, and risk profile.