MCA Awards postponed as Covid-19 precaution
The representative body of the UK’s consulting sector has announced its annual awards ceremony will be postponed until November. The Management Consultancies Association’s decision comes a day after the Coronavirus outbreak was given pandemic status by the World Health Organisation.
The global outbreak of Covid-19 has seen the infectious disease – which can progress to pneumonia and multi-organ failure in the most vulnerable – cause a wave of panic to travel around the countries afflicted so far. With the number of global cases now well over 100,000 and the death-toll around 5,000, the World Health Organisation has finally bowed to mounting pressure to declare the outbreak a pandemic – a disease epidemic that has spread across a large region; for instance multiple continents, or worldwide.
Due to the severity of the current situation, the Managing Consultancies Association has taken the decision to postpone its annual awards ceremony, which was due to take place on the 23rd April at the Park Plaza Westminster, London. With experts advising the minimisation of travel, a number of countries approaching lockdown and several – including the US – having suspended travel from Europe, the celebration has been moved to the Autumn.
A statement from MCA Chief Executive Tamzen Isacsson read, “The health and well-being of our MCA members, clients and guests is our primary concern and we have been closely monitoring Public Health England advice and importantly the policies of our MCA member firms. We have worked very hard over the past few days to secure a new date and we are pleased to confirm that the MCA Awards will be hosted on Monday 2nd November 2020 at the Park Plaza, Westminster. We very much look forward to announcing the results and celebrating the achievements of the sector at this special evening event.”
The consulting industry is renowned as one of the most travelled facets of modern business – with some professionals in the trade spending as much as 80% of their working lives away from home. Experts from top firms often jet across the globe to assist clients with a variety of advisory matters, leaving consultants particularly exposed to picking up viruses such as Covid-19.
Big Four professional services firm Deloitte became the first major UK consultancy to report a case of Coronavirus earlier in March. In a bid to prevent Covid-19’s further spread through the organisation, and its clients, the firm committed to “deep cleaning” the floor on which the individual worked. While Deloitte did not enforce an official quarantine at the time, it also told the building’s remaining staff that they could work from home if they wished.
