2024 MCA Awards

The Management Consultancies Association (MCA), a cornerstone of the UK consulting industry for over 65 years, proudly represents the sector's excellence and innovation. Their prestigious awards, judged independently, celebrate the exceptional contributions of management consultants across both private and public sectors, highlighting the remarkable achievements of individuals and project teams.

We are thrilled to announce that 5 of our talented consultants and 5 of our project teams have been shortlisted for these esteemed awards. Lisa Fernihough, Head of Advisory, remarked, “The fact that so many of our colleagues and projects have made it as finalists demonstrates the high quality of the work we deliver for our clients. It's a brilliant achievement.”

Discover their inspiring stories and learn more about their ground-breaking projects below.

Nicholas Fox

Partner, Head of Government (Justice)

KPMG in the UK

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Lisa Fernihough

Head of Advisory

KPMG in the UK

Winners

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the NHS faced a significant waiting list backlog due to the postponement and cancellation of elective procedures reflecting long-standing healthcare system capacity challenges.

Clearing this backlog was proving difficult due to existing, and pandemic-exacerbated challenges, such as resource constraints, workforce shortages, inconsistent data quality, and capacity limitations. The backlog prolonged patient waiting times, driving poorer patient experience, increased suffering, and potentially irreparable patient harm.

Many NHS Trusts struggled to understand the true state their backlog, due to challenges with legacy technology infrastructure and disparate unconnected data systems making it harder to establish the waiting list position. Without a trusted single view for waiting patients and theatre sessions, Trusts would struggle to effectively prioritise patients and optimise limited operating theatre capacity.

To respond to this challenge NHS England commissioned Palantir to establish the Improving Elective Care Coordination Pilot (IECCP). The IECCP programme created the innovative digital Care Coordination Solution (CCS), built on Palantir’s leading Foundry data software platform. CCS was designed to help Trusts reduce their elective waitlist by giving users intuitive access to all key data in one place. This enabled collaboration across all teams working on the elective pathway, by improving data quality and helping staff to maximise theatre utilisation with improved data driven scheduling.

The NHS and Palantir required support in driving maximum adoption of the CCS solution to ensure it delivered it’s promised benefits. KPMG partnered with Palantir to address this challenge for six NHS Trusts (Bath, Salisbury, North Midlands, Lincoln, West Herts and NorthTees).

KPMG’s were appointed to:

Drive buy-in by demonstrating CCS to hospital staff, (executive management, medical consultants, management, nurses and administrative staff)
Improve scheduling processes with the CCS (e.g. theatre planning sessions)
Train hospital staff, using a combination of in-person workshops and bespoke training and change management support
Ensure continued success by enabling CCS champions within Trusts, and upskilling NHS England resources to deliver ongoing training
Leverage KPMG operational excellence expertise to rapidly translate user feedback into technical requirements for Palantir engineers to drive continuous solution improvements.

Benefits to client

The NHS was able to successfully implement the CCS in the six NHS Trusts.

KPMG’s blend of analytics, technology implementation and NHS operational expertise added significant value to Palantir’s ability to successfully deploy the tool. In particular, the team’s NHS operational perspective and deep understanding of NHS user needs allowed Palantir to increase buy-in and adoption of the tool.

Tangible benefits included:

5% increases in theatre utilisation enabling thousands of additional treatments
300 improvements to theatre scheduling made using automated CCS alerts
10,000 patient entries with potential data quality issues flagged to help to prioritise patient scheduling

“KPMG joined at a pivotal time to drive rapid user adoption in 12 weeks. Their expertise established credibility with front-line staff and their dedicated team worked collaboratively and flexibly with NHS England, Palantir and Trust staff to provide high value cost-effective. We couldn’t have met our goals without their help. The tangible benefits to patients from the IECCP programme have been pivotal to supporting the case for a much more ambitious and substantial transformation programme.”

Ayub Bhayat – Chief Data Officer NHS England (Deputy CDAO)

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust needed to improve performance whilst simultaneously building their improvement capacity and capability. Rather than taking a reactive, firefighting approach, the Trust wanted to empower their executive, clinical and operations teams to really understand what was holding them back from delivering on Trust objectives, create aligned solutions and deliver the improvements themselves.

Working in partnership with our firm, the Trust designed a new improvement system that was tightly aligned to their organisational strategy and values. They successfully launched the programme using tools and methodologies we developed through nearly 20 similar engagements. And then they rapidly deployed a massive training programme that empowered more than 40% of their teams to self-sufficiently deliver sustainable performance improvements in their areas.

Our training showed them how to use data analytics to identify the root causes of the performance challenges they faced and then to use that information to set clear metrics for their improvement initiatives. Then we helped them think of potential countermeasures – longer-term solutions – they could employ to achieve their improvement objectives. We showed them how to use improvement huddles to overcome barriers and how to track their progress using performance management routines.

We gave them a robust management system developed and tailored specifically for this situation. We built them a 360-degree leadership behaviour tool that allowed them to gather and collate real-time feedback and insight from their line managers, their direct reports and their peers. We also brought them into industry networks to discuss new approaches and share best practices around performance improvement.

At the same time, we focused on the leadership. We worked with their executives to create a personal and organisational culture of improvement. We encouraged them to ‘go and see’ their employees, listen to their challenges and engage in improvement huddles with them. We showed them how to be more purposeful about the way they interact with services.

In many ways, we were helping RBFT build an organisation of problem solvers with the tools, routines and behaviours they needed to apply complex problem-solving techniques to virtually any challenge they are facing. That has provided them with capabilities they can use to do their day jobs better and ensure their improvements are sustainable and continuous.

The programme’s success was predicated on a dynamic combination of experienced professionals, strong client relationships and an unwavering focus on ensuring RBFT’s leadership and people were aligned on the organisation’s strategy, values and behaviours. We helped them create a golden thread of sustainable improvement from the Board to the Ward.

This engagement met all of the objectives and requirements set out by the client. We delivered a proactive performance improvement system, underpinned by robust tools and methodologies, and scaled up a massive training programme to ensure engagement and adoption across the organisation.

However, we believe the best measure of the value we created is in the improvements that the Trust has been able to achieve using our system, tools, routines and behaviours. And those results have been fantastic.

Janet Greenwood is a built environment professional with over 30 years' experience. Beginning her career in industry and then the public sector, her impressive roll call of experience includes working in water, wastewater, flood defence, road, rail and construction. She has been part of the leadership team of some of the UK's largest infrastructure projects, including Tideway and the Lower Thames Crossing.

Moving across into consultancy six years ago, Janet is now a Director at KPMG Infrastructure Advisory where she leads on the sustainability agenda. Passionate about the need for sustainable infrastructure solutions in a world threatened by the growing climate and biodiversity crises, Janet leads teams that help clients address these issues through fact-based and data-driven approaches.

A pragmatic and incisive problem solver, Janet loves to make the complex simple, identifying and resolving the root causes of issues. This enables organisations to improve, teams to deliver and individuals to flourish.

Janet is an active contributor to the public debate around the issues facing us as a society. She authored a KPMG thought leadership report, A whole systems approach, published as part of the Net Zero Infrastructure Industry Coalition last summer; chairs the Major Projects Association’s Sustainability Ambassadors initiative; contributes to research pieces in her capacity as a Policy Fellow at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE); and regularly speaks at conferences and events.

Truly, Janet is an experienced leader who is now making a significant impact as a consultant and guide to her wide range of clients.

A highly experienced consultant with over 25 years in the field, Jon Richards is a partner in KPMG’s Defence Consulting practice with a deep specialism in operational performance improvement in large and complex organisations.

Working across multiple industries in his early career, Jon began to increasingly specialise in the Defence sector and is now entirely dedicated to working on major projects at the Ministry of Defence (MoD). This involves complex work redesigning operating models, creating blueprints for change, and acting as trusted adviser and critical friend to stakeholders across the MoD. His client focus, passion for quality, and meticulous project management skills have built a strong track record of success.

With a team of over 100 consultants in KPMG’s Defence Consulting practice, Jon is a motivational leader who helps people give the best of themselves, building an ethic of teamwork, collaboration and support. He mentors numerous colleagues, formally and informally – and is also a great champion of mental health and wellbeing, leading KPMG’s men’s mental health network.

Becoming a Chartered Management Consultant in 2021, Jon is a strong advocate for the accreditation, providing an assurance of quality and professionalism that clients can trust and helping consultants reflect on their skillsets and opportunities for continuous improvement.

Across a 25+ year career at KPMG, Warren Middleton has been an inspirational and change-making figure. He has excelled as a consulting leader for clients, spearheading numerous major transformational projects across Financial Services, technology, government and other areas.

Particular specialisms have been retail banking clients; banking technology, including payments (Warren led on chip and pin advisory and also the project to digitise cheque processing); technology start-ups and scale-ups; and advising clients on the integration of technologies such as Microsoft Dynamics and Workday.

But Warren has also done so much more. He has led KPMG’s Manchester office as Office Senior Partner over the last four years, including the critical post-pandemic period; left a legacy for the firm by masterminding the acquisition and integration of several other businesses into KPMG; championed the technology and start-up ecosystem by leading the KPMG UK Tech Innovator awards; driven the social mobility agenda through leading KPMG’s involvement with the pioneering UA92 university; and mentored, developed and supported countless talented individuals in their careers.

Warren was the first Consulting Partner to become an Office Senior Partner, paving the way for others. He developed the initial business plan for the multi-million pound KPMG Ignition Centre in Manchester which opened in the summer of 2023. This is an innovative and inspirational workspace for clients to work alongside KPMG.

Due to retire from KPMG at the end of April 2024, Warren has had an enormous impact on the firm and the consulting landscape – a legacy that will endure.

Truly, Janet is an experienced leader who is now making a significant impact as a consultant and guide to her wide range of clients.

Highly Commended

As the UK’s largest Defence contractor, BAE Systems underpins national sovereignty and security, as well as making a significant contribution to the economy. Research from Oxford Economics found that in 2022, the company contributed £11bn to GDP – equivalent to 0.4% of the domestic economy.

One area of significant focus is the Air domain. The company’s Air Sector designs, manufactures, supports and provides training for Typhoon and F-35 military fast jets and the Hawk trainer aircraft, while developing the next generation combat air system, Tempest, which will secure the UK’s sovereign combat air defence capabilities for the long term.

The company identified the need to drive efficiency, affordability and agility for customers in helping them respond to the evolving threat context today, while also taking key steps to transform to deliver the products and services of tomorrow faster than ever before.

KPMG was appointed as the partner to help deliver this. Through an extremely close working relationship, where commitment has been a watchword, a multi-skilled KPMG team has worked with BAE Systems to deliver the transformation at scale.

This has included moving over 5,000 people into new teams digital and data-led performance improvement across supply chain, procurement, engineering, project management and manufacturing; enterprise performance management; embedding Enterprise leadership through redesigned senior executive forums; and a full programme of cultural and change management.

Examples of specific workstream projects and outcomes include designing and implementing a new end-to-end digital solution for engineering using an integrated workflow tool; the design and implementation of a modernised digital procurement solution that will help drive significant efficiencies, cost savings and performance improvements; and the launch of a whole new line of business within the Air Sector – FalconWorks® – which is its innovation hub for new products and services, employing 1,200 staff and working with a range of external partners in a dynamic ecosystem.

The programme has played a key part in energising the organisation, and strengthening its confidence and resilience for the future, with key outcomes including:

New operating model designed and implemented
Newly created Falcon Works® innovation hub fully operational, staffed with 1,200 FTEs
Nearly 100 individuals in Air trained and developed to deliver transformational change activity

The project has resonated widely, to other divisions of BAE Systems and beyond into the wider Defence ecosystem. There have been over 1,000 visitors to the Ignition 35 space that the BAE Systems and KPMG team has created – including senior customer figures who have been keen to find out more about transformation approaches and understand how the successes of the programme may be replicated elsewhere.

Solent Freeport was shortlisted as one of just eight successful English freeport bids in March 2021. Getting through the bid phase was a huge achievement. But the most challenging phase of the project was still to come – turning the ‘big picture’ vision into a fully operational entity, with the critical legislation in place and funding approved. Only then could the Freeport start unlocking the private investment that would deliver billions of pounds of GVA and thousands of jobs for the Solent region.

KPMG’s proven reputation as one of the UK’s leading teams on growth related infrastructure initiatives and freeport projects, saw the firm appointed to turn the vision into reality.

Working with a joint private and public sector task force, including six local authorities, the Solent LEP, and multiple other organisations, the firm played a central role in helping the Solent Freeport secure the necessary approvals and legislative cover to become one of the first UK freeports to go live in December 2022.

Several key parts of the strategy KPMG designed and implemented are now recognised as best practice. In this way, the evidence base KPMG developed has enabled Solent to lead the charge for other UK freeports and drive the success of the sector as a whole.

Among the many innovative strategies developed by KPMG were:

New local ‘dual key’ public/private governance procedures for decisions on re-investing c£500m in business rate retention receipts over 25 years
Demonstrating economic linkages and tax site contiguity across the Southampton Water to allow the Solent’s proposed tax site there, spread across four landholdings and 10km, to be approved as a single tax site. This allowed the Solent’s proposition to comply with the maximum three tax sites rule all freeports were required to comply with.
Developing legally binding agreements between the freeport, local authorities, and landowners to ensure designated tax sites genuinely created additional, high value economic activity. This addressed one of the principal criticisms of freeport-type interventions, which is that they simply reroute economic activity and investment from elsewhere.
Developing the evidence base to convince government of the need to extend the time window for freeport tax reliefs from 5 to 10 years.

Making the case for these solutions required a rigorous, detail-oriented approach. KPMG devoted months to devising new approaches to make compelling arguments and challenge scepticism within UK Government. Its expert team drew on its considerable experience, including work within HM Treasury and on several other freeport and government infrastructure projects, to liaise effectively with the client and the government.

The firm maintained a strong relationship with client stakeholders throughout, helping them understand the government’s perspective and negotiate their differing priorities to reach a consensus. It faced a particularly difficult prospect in persuading several different local authorities to pool their retained business rates within the Solent Freeport. But working with Portsmouth, the freeport’s accountable body, and the authorities themselves, KPMG successfully convinced them it was in their collective interests to pool the money so it could be spent more strategically.

Despite concluding its initial role in the Solent Freeport ‘set-up’ phase in December 2022, KPMG continued to support the Solent during its post-designation ‘operational’ phase, including on critical questions relating to the use of retained business rates and the defrayal of Seed Capital funding.

Grain-to-glass sustainability is integral to Diageo’s strategy. As part of this ambition, the company wanted to take human-rights management beyond its Tier 1 suppliers; and embed zero waste to landfill (ZWtL) practices into its supply chain for the first time.

KPMG’s sustainability experts worked with Diageo to analyse human-rights issues further down the supply chain; and encourage suppliers to embrace ZWtL. Our multi-phase programme comprised:

1. Stakeholder engagement

To develop a clear picture of Diageo’s current supply chain, and gather internal and external stakeholders’ views and insights.

2. Human Rights assessment, prioritisation and implementation

A risk assessment to methodically identify the salient human-rights issues in the supply chain
A prioritisation strategy based on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)
A grievance and remediation process and governance structure for addressing human rights issues in the supply chain
A human-rights supplier training programme

The human rights strand of the project identified 55 salient issues across 15 procurement categories – enabling Diageo to focus its efforts for maximum impact.

3. ZWtL assessment, prioritisation and implementation

A global assessment of the potential carbon-saving opportunities from waste reduction in Diageo’s supply chain
A robust definition of supply chain ZWtL
A global implementation plan for the ZWtL programme, tailored to the needs of different procurement categories and suppliers

Our supply chain ZWtL work covered more than a third of Diageo’s multi-billion-dollar annual spend. It has the potential to remove 183 million kg of carbon from the firm’s supply chain.

Sustainability is a long-term goal: the true impact of our programme will be felt in 5-10 years’ time. But we’ve already helped Diageo make significant progress towards its ambitions.

Tauqeer has transformed KPMG Consulting’s delivery model, by launching a new, technology-led product for retail clients.

His desire to help retailers perform better stems from his family’s business. Growing up, he helped at his fathers’ market clothing stall, learning from a young age how to understand and serve customers’ needs.

Tauqeer distilled that focus and passion into creating a revolutionary data analytics tool for retail businesses. He realised that many retailers – more than a consulting team can realistically reach – face the same challenges. And he was determined to find a way to solve them at scale, by harnessing the power of data and technology.

The result is Dash: an analytics platform that gives retailers new levels of insight about their businesses, so that they can make the right decisions.

Dash was Tauqeer’s idea and vision. He convinced KPMG to embrace it despite initial scepticism. He drove the initial market-scoping exercise. He built and led the diverse team that brought the product to market. And he ran the extensive and complex development project, which required significant innovation and problem-solving.

Now that Dash is live, Tauqeer leads the client engagement activity. He makes sure users get the most from the product, tailoring the insight provided to their role and expertise.

Dash has proved transformative for clients and KPMG. Retailers tell us they’ve gleaned more insight from it in just a few days than in several years using other solutions. While For KPMG Consulting, launching a product-based offering will enable us to significantly extend our market reach.

Abbie is an outstanding individual who is driven to make a difference to both KPMG’s clients and colleagues. In her short time since joining as an Apprentice in our Managed Service practice in October 2022, Abbie has made a significant impact across the People function, risk management and our Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE) strategy.

Abbie has played a key role in tracking and managing risks that impact our client’s operations, ensuring processes and controls are clearly documented and monitored. She has shown a strong commitment to KPMG and our clients by embedding a positive and proactive risk culture and seeking continuous improvement in how we manage risk.

Abbie has used her own joining experience to improve how colleagues are onboarded – developing induction materials, taking the lead on running our apprentice Induction Week and ensuring new joiners have everything needed for a successful career. Abbie has also been integral to developing and supporting the Academy, a 2-year on-the-job training programme, by driving recruitment and developing pathways at the end of the programme to provide access to further opportunities.

Abbie is a key member of the Managed Services IDE committee and has led on the generation of a new strategy of communications, as well as planning and leading events. She leads on the People element of a monthly team newsletter, enabling her to build relationships across the department, and has also led an initiative focused on recognition, to ensure valuable contributions are recognised whilst driving collaboration and a positive working environment.