consultancy making pots of money in the UK apparently

Guardian Financial Pages

Consultancies rake in record pounds 2bn revenues

Terry Macalister
235 words
12 June 2006
The Guardian
24
English
© Copyright 2006. The Guardian. All rights reserved.

Management consultancies raked in a record pounds 2bn in revenues over the last quarter, figures out today show. The numbers will reinforce concerns about the costs of business advice to the NHS and other parts of the public sector.

The Management Consultancies Association (MCA) reported 9% growth in quarterly, year-on-year revenues. Stripping out the impact of new members and changes in the reporting system, the figure is closer to 16%.

Nearly half of MCA members complain they are so busy that they are struggling to recruit enough staff, while 80% are finding it hard to find employees with the right skills. New demand is centred on strategy, human resources and marketing.

The MCA believes the trend reflects optimism in the commercial world rather than more public-sector work. There are now 50,000 consultants working with stock-listed companies but increasingly with government departments also. This has swelled the coffers of advisory firms but raised concerns in the public sector.

Many NHS trusts are now being forced to cut directly employed staff in an attempt to reduce their deficits. There has been increasing criticism of the costs of NHS trusts' use of consulting firms. Dr Paul Miller, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, has called for a halt on the use of external management consultants in the NHS.