Background to the report

Consultants are professionals who are contracted to provide advice to an organisation for a specific initiative, such as a project or programme. Consultants can provide expert insight or specialist skills that organisations require, or provide an external perspective; for example, expertise in the implementation of digital projects. Consultants can be costly, so it is important that they are used appropriately; for example, when government needs a specific set of skills it lacks, and for a defined period.

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Cabinet Office and the Government Commercial Function, a cross-government network that supports organisations’ use of commercial services, are responsible for setting the government’s policy and controls on the use of consultants. Individual departments and arm’s-length bodies (ALBs) are responsible for implementing government policy, managing their own use of consultants and operating internal controls around consultancy spending. Crown Commercial Service (CCS) supports the public sector to effectively procure common goods and services, including consultancy services.

The government does not collect data on how it uses consultants, only what it spends. As of 2022-23, central government spend on consultants was estimated by HM Treasury to be approximately £1.36 billion, but other sources suggest the figure could be significantly higher. The current government has stated its aim to reduce spending on consultants. In her first speech to Parliament, the Chancellor announced her intention to stop all non-essential spending on consultancy immediately and halve the government’s spend on consultants in 2025-26.

Scope of the report

In this report we draw on insights from our published reports, including our good-practice guide on managing the commercial lifecycle, and original fieldwork to share lessons to help the government maximise the value it achieves from its use of consultants. It focuses on:

  • how government uses external consultants
  • challenges we have identified with the government’s use of consultants in our past reports
  • lessons we have identified to improve how the government uses consultants

This report sets out lessons to help departments improve how they use consultants. The report does not cover other services provided by consultancy firms, that are not classified as consultancy, such as the management of outsourced services. We have also produced an accompanying good-practice guide to support organisations in effectively using consultants.

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Publication details

Press release

View press release (21 Nov 2025)

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