MCA Awards reception celebrates impact of consulting in 2023

11 September 2023 Consultancy.uk

The MCA Awards has hosted a reception to celebrate its 2023 nominees, while highlighting the impact the consulting industry has on the UK’s economy and wider society. The event at the Tower of London comes a month before the MCA Awards’ annual ceremony.

For more than six decades, the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) has been the UK consulting industry’s collective voice. Its more than 80 members make up over 60% of the UK’s £18 billion consulting industry, and employ roughly 45,000 professionals. Each year, the organisation hosts the MCA Awards, which has become one of the key highlights of the UK consulting industry calendar.

As the organisation ramps up for the climax of its 2023 awards calendar, the MCA has hosted a gala attended by more than 250 finalists and clients from leading organisations. Taking place in the historic Tower of London, the event – which was sponsored by Big Four firm Deloitte – saw guests welcomed to the UNESCO world heritage site by the locale’s ceremonial guardians, the Beefeaters.

MCA Awards reception celebrates impact of consulting in 2023

Speaking at the event about the 2023 awards nominees, MCA CEO Tamzen Isacsson said, “Every year the standards rise higher and higher, and the competition intensifies. That is why we must take this opportunity to celebrate those of you who have managed to get through to our finals. Because genuinely to get to this stage is a real achievement worth marking. “The role of modern consultants is broadening and deepening as the challenges our clients and society face become ever more complex. And while there is still more to be done, increasingly modern consultants come from all backgrounds reflecting all corners of society in the modern United Kingdom.”

Reflecting this commitment to British society as a whole, the MCA also used the event as an opportunity to launch its annual charity appeal. This year, funds will be raised on behalf of Child Action Poverty Group (CPAG), which works on behalf of children growing up in poverty. More than one in four children in Britain now grows up in poverty, making CPAG’s work to understand the causes of poverty, the impact it has on children’s lives, and how it can be prevented and solved, even more crucial.

Child Poverty Action Group’s CEO Alison Garnham commented, “When kids grow up poor, they miss out on the things most children take for granted: warm clothes, school trips, having friends over for tea. Already 4.2 million children in the UK are in poverty and the number is expected to rise. CPAG is doing all we can to support struggling families. Our nationwide advice services are supporting thousands of frontline workers to maximise families’ household incomes and our work in schools continues to identify and reduce costs for families, so that all children regardless of their financial background can make the most of learning and school life. We are grateful for this appeal which will help to make this possible.”

Upcoming ceremony

The reception was held ahead of the MCA Awards ceremony, which will see winners announced from the current shortlist including 45 different consulting firms from across the country. The MCA will host its 26th annual ceremony on October 9th 2023, in a new, larger venue: London’s Grosvenor Hotel. Earlier in May, the MCA also declared that this year’s event would be hosted by veteran sports broadcaster and author Clare Balding.

A total of over 95 clients from across the private and public sector will also join leading consulting firms at the event, to promote the impact they have achieved in partnership across a range of different categories. Organisations championing the role of consultancy firms include the World Health Organisation, NHS Blood and Transplant, central government and local councils, Transport for London with the Elizabeth Line and firms including Marks and Spencer, Lloyds, Unilever, Lipton, NatWest and Rolls Royce. 

Ahead of that event, Deloitte UK Managing Partner for Consulting Rob Cullen noted, "These nominations brilliantly showcase the value of consulting. They tell a story of how we’re driving the kind of transformations which our clients, our society and the planet need.”

More on: MCA
United Kingdom
Company profile
MCA
MCA is a United Kingdom partner of Consultancy.org