- 70 clients partnered with consulting sector companies to champion the critical work provided to clients in both the public and private sector and this was recognised at the biggest awards ever
- The awards champion young talent across the industry with results announced for Young Consultant of the Year, Rising Star and Apprentice of the Year
- The Times Consultant of the Year and winner of Exceptional Support and Delivery to a Client During COVID-19 is awarded to Kevin Hall, IBM Consulting
- Project of the Year and International winner goes to Deloitte with Mologic for enabling rapid diagnostic testing in developing countries
The winners of the MCA Awards for 2021 have been announced at a face-to-face ceremony which took place this evening with guests including Ministers, clients, government officials, national media and leading executives across the private and public sector. Following a record year for the awards with an increase of 72% in entries, consultancy firms of all sizes and their clients were recognised for their award-winning projects and 7 individual winners were selected by the panel of 45 independent judges. The MCA Awards Ceremony, now in its 24th year, brought together the largest-ever audience at the event in London, which was hosted by comedian and broadcaster, Sandi Toksvig OBE.
Overall, there were 24 award categories with 14 project awards, 7 individual awards and 3 overall awards with 13 SMEs receiving awards as winners or highly commended across all categories. A number of consultants at different stages of their career were recognised for their achievements including Young Consultant of the Year awarded to Hannah Steiner from EY, David McIntosh from KPMG as Best New Apprentice and Rising Star to Simon Calderwood from Simon-Kucher & Partners. Team Leader Consultant of the Year was awarded to Pamela Thomas from PwC, Thought Leader Consultant of the Year to Leo Jones from IMPOWER and Innovation Consultant of the Year to Nele Van Buggenhout from PwC.
The Overall Project of the Year and winner of the International category went to Deloitte for its work with Mologic, a UK based pioneer in the development of rapid diagnostic tests. Weeks before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, Mologic wanted to scale production in the UK and secure a supply chain for product development and distribution to low-income countries and fostering self-sufficiency. Drawing on their expertise in programme management, operations transformation, finance, manufacturing and supply chain, the Deloitte team leveraged its global network to bring its COVID-19 test to market four weeks earlier than originally planned and expand production by 1,000%.
The Times Consultant of the Year was awarded to Kevin Hall from IBM Consulting who impressed the judges in the new category of Exceptional Support and Delivery to a Client During COVID-19. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK, Kevin stepped up to take a leadership role in planning the vaccine response and helping to design the future COVID-19 vaccine supply chain.
The Strategy award went to PwC with The Courtauld Institute of Art while winner of Social Value was EY for its work with the National Forensic Mental Health Service and Commercial Excellence went to PwC with the Ministry of Defence. Other winning projects included Unleash & Engage with Tata Steel UK and EY with Boots for the Performance Improvement in the Private Sector category. The importance of sustainability is recognised in the Thought Leadership Category, sponsored by Kimble when Shell asked Deloitte to conduct research and develop a seminal piece of thought leadership on the topic of decarbonisation in the shipping industry.
Exceptional Support and Delivery to a Client During COVID-19 was awarded to IBM Consulting for its work with the Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) while other recognised projects in the public sector include Atos with Sussex Police for Data and Innovation and PwC with the Metropolitan Police Service for the category Performance Improvement in the Public Sector. EY and the National Forensic Mental Health Service was the winner for Social Value.
Over fifteen small consultancy firms were recognised including Mason Advisory as Best New Consultancy, a digital and technology transformation consultancy that has three-quarters of its revenue from repeat business while continuing to grow by nurturing new clients while working on long-term accounts. The firm has over 60 employees and is based in Salford, Manchester.
Speaking at the event in Central London, Tamzen Isacsson, Chief Executive of the MCA, said:
“So many of the entries tell of the ingenuity, commitment and skill of our consultants which makes us a world leading industry. And so many show how the consultancy sector responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ability to deliver more services remotely released talent around the country and saw those talents being used not just in this country but around the globe. The faith clients have shown in the consulting sector in the most difficult of times has been vital.”
Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), added:
“These awards highlight the outstanding young talent within the UK consulting sector, which has helped it become the second largest globally.
“The strong partnerships that the consulting industry has with its clients have been so important in helping them get through the pandemic and will continue to be as we build back better.”
A full list of the MCA Awards 2021 winners can be found at https://bit.ly/MCAWinners21.