Cabinet Office
Central government organisations, including departments and the bodies they sponsor, must obtain Cabinet Office approval when they want to spend money on specified activities.
This control is one of a set of controls included in the policy paper Commercial spend controls version 6
Overview
Details are provided of:
- the types of services covered by the consultancy and professional services (C&PS) spending control and how these differ from the separate spending control covering Contingent Labour contracts
- the contract value and duration thresholds at which the control applies
- and the authorisation arrangements
Applications for consent under this control are made on the Consultancy and Professional Services Portal. Contact cabinetofficecontrols@cabinetoffice.gov.uk if you have any questions.
1. Policy
The C&PS controls purpose is to ensure that relevant people and commercial standards are being met when organisations procure C&PS. It contributes to the Government Consulting Hubs aims to: ensure consultants should only be engaged where in-house skills are not available; help reduce spend on consultancy; maximise the value achieved where consultants are genuinely needed; and upskill permanent staff to deliver consultancy-type work.
2. Scope
The organisations and spending classifications in scope for this control.
2.1 Which organisations must apply?
The control covers spending on C&PS by all organisations classified as being in central government by the Office of National Statistics in their Public Sector Classifications guide.
Other organisations may be in scope through legislation or agreement. Further details on this can be obtained from the Cabinet Office Controls Team at cabinetofficecontrols@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
2.2 Spending classifications - service type?
Consultancy services
These are services:
- that provide advice to fill a knowledge gap. This can be to identify options and recommendations, or advice to assist with implementing solutions; it will usually be related to business change or transformation, so will be time-limited
- where the individuals (consultants) delivering the service (output) will operate outside of the client organisations structure and staffing establishment
- where payment is based on the delivery of a defined service (output). This may require a team of consultants working for an extended period of time, or could require a single consultant whose fee will be calculated based on the time taken to deliver the output
- that should not involve the individuals (consultants) working in a Business as Usual environment (eg. advising on legal risk or technical matters). Such contracts should usually be categorised as professional services, rather than consultancy services
Professional Services
These are services:
- that are not defined as consultancy
- that are not purely or mostly advisory (unless the advice is part of a formal report that is required to undertake business as usual activities eg. a legal opinion or technical report)
- where the individuals delivering the service (output) will operate outside the client organisations structure and staffing establishment
- where payment is generally based on the delivery of defined outputs or outcomes (eg. task and finish work)
- that, as with consultancy, deliver a service (output) that may require a team working for an extended period of time, or may be provided by an individual whose fee will be calculated based on the time taken to deliver the service
- that are often delivered in a BAU environment, but may relate to the delivery of a project or programme. They can be responsible for a non-BAU output (eg. legal advisers recruited to provide advice on a specific issue)