MLC Consultancy

Unlocking public sector productivity through experience, pragmatism and value-focused AI adoption.

A consulting practice led by former public sector leaders, working alongside expert practitioners to turn funding into measurable outputs and outcomes, and to help clients adopt AI where it creates real value.

Speak to a specialist Discuss your requirement

The productivity puzzle

The UK public sector faces a productivity puzzle, where increasing taxpayer funding must urgently translate into commensurate outputs and outcomes against a backdrop of sustained fiscal constraint.

Delivering more for less, on an unprecedented scale, is now the expected norm across central government and the wider public sector. We help leaders meet that challenge with practical delivery and value-focused AI adoption.

Who we are

A practice led by former public sector leaders.

Our team has held senior leadership roles across central government and the wider public sector, so we genuinely understand the context and constraints our clients work within. We pair that experience with expert consulting practitioners to solve productivity challenges and deliver lasting results.

We don't measure success by how long we stay. We measure it by what clients are able to do better as a result of working with us.

Senior consultants at work

Challenges we overcome

The problems that make most consultancy engagements fail.

Milestone slippage

Lack of delivery risk transparency means problems surface too late to fix.

Scope creep and cost escalation

No budget caps or change control means engagements run over on time and cost.

Poor accountability

Without the right governance, stakeholder buy-in erodes and change control breaks down.

Leadership time wasted

Chasing updates and status reports takes leaders away from the decisions that matter.

Transformation delivery

Our areas of expertise

What we deliver

Finance & corporate functions

Cost reduction, consolidation and stronger financial accountability.

Financial recovery and management

Stabilising finances and restoring grip in pressured environments.

Change & transformation

Operating model, service redesign and organisational change that lasts.

Governance, risk & compliance

Assurance and controls that keep pace with how organisations operate.

Strategy & planning

Setting direction and turning it into deliverable plans and business cases.

People & workforce

Workforce efficiency, capability and performance improvement.

Our sector expertise

Central Government Arms' Length Bodies Education Health Local Government Non-profit

Our philosophy

Our "What Works Well" principles

Our commonsense approach is grounded in our experience and pragmatism.

  • Problem-led, not solution-led. We implement pragmatic solutions that are best for our clients, not a product we are trying to sell.
  • Ambitious yet realistic on AI and technology. We deliver AI and technology-led improvement within our clients' real-world constraints.
  • Capability-building by design. We leave our clients with lasting capabilities, not dependency.
Consultants working with client teams

Our approach to AI adoption

Helping our clients drive value from AI adoption.

Our approach to successful AI adoption focuses on the drivers of sustainable value creation.

Focus on ROI

We help clients move from AI pilot proliferation to an ROI-focused strategy and business case development.

Focus on operating model

We help clients realise AI-enabled productivity gains by implementing pragmatic operating model and process changes alongside the technology.

Focus on governance, risk & compliance

We help clients make sure their GRC arrangements keep pace with rapid AI adoption, with capabilities for the continuous assurance of AI tools.

Our operating model

The strength and flexibility of how we deliver.

There are three pillars to the way we organise and deliver our work.

Senior public sector leadership

A practice led by former public sector leaders who genuinely understand context and constraints, working alongside expert consulting practitioners.

Flexible access to the right capabilities

Our relationship with MLC Partners and its AI and technology partners gives us the ability to access the right people and technology for each client.

AI-enabled delivery

Proprietary AI productivity tools free up senior consultant time, meaning faster delivery and higher quality, at lower cost.

Impact

The kind of results that make people take notice.

MLC focuses on delivering measurable operational, financial and transformation outcomes, supported by clear governance, milestone management, reporting and benefits tracking to demonstrate value and return on investment throughout delivery.

Finance

25%+

Cost reduction delivered by consolidating finance functions across multiple organisations.

Operations

30→5

Days cut from application processing time, with 80%+ improvement in customer satisfaction.

Workforce

30%

Reduction in management layers, enabling talent growth to double within twelve months.

Digital

70%

Reduction in service waiting times, with real-time backlog visibility giving teams instant ability to act.

MLC leaves sustainable capability, knowledge transfer, governance processes and operational improvements in place so organisations can continue delivering successfully after the engagement ends.

Specialist tooling

Proprietary tools that accelerate discovery, improve insight and reduce cost.

Where appropriate, MLC deploys AI-enabled accelerator tooling and rapid discovery approaches, drawing on our wider ecosystem of SMEs, specialist associates and industry subject matter experts.

SiloSmasher

Portfolio efficiency, duplication analysis, cost-saving identification and cross-organisational insight tooling, designed to surface hidden waste and overlapping spend.

R-DaaS

Rapid Discovery-as-a-Service: accelerated discovery and assessment approaches designed to reduce the time and cost associated with traditional discovery phases.

RAITracker

Assurance tooling to support governance, reporting, analysis and risk management of AI systems, aligned to public sector regulatory requirements.

Our Team

Leadership with lived experience across the public sector.

Pete Marshall

Pete Marshall

Chief Executive Officer

Pete founded MLC Partners and has built the firm into a leading public sector specialist over two decades. He leads the firm's strategic direction across consultancy, interim management and executive search.

[email protected] 07930 153 672
Sonal Modi

Sonal Modi

Director

Sonal joined MLC Partners in 2015 to build and lead our operations function, supporting consulting engagements and executive campaigns across health, central and local government.

[email protected] 07947 316 883
Simon Shobrook

Simon Shobrook

Director, Public Sector Transformation

Simon leads engagements across organisational design, financial transformation and digital change, with extensive experience delivering complex public sector programmes from local to central government.

[email protected] 07876 236 997
Josh McLeod

Josh McLeod

Associate Director, Healthcare Strategy, Operations & Change

Josh specialises in healthcare strategy, operations and change management, working with NHS trusts and ICBs to improve services, strengthen performance and deliver sustainable change.

[email protected] 07825 394 421
Theo Diejomaoh

Theo Diejomaoh

Associate Partner, Healthcare Digital

Theo leads MLC's digital healthcare engagements, supporting NHS and public sector clients through system implementation, digital transformation and data-driven service improvement.

[email protected] 07377 876 245

How to engage with us

Procurement routes.

MLC is available through established public sector frameworks: rapid, compliant routes to engage MLC.

MCF4

Management Consultancy Framework 4 (CCS)

Consultancy across strategy, transformation and delivery.
G-Cloud

G-Cloud

Cloud-based services and specialist support via the Digital Marketplace.
DOS7

Digital Outcomes and Specialists

Digital, data and technology delivery teams.
ESPO

ESPO Consultancy Services

Consultancy procurement route for the wider public sector.

Would you like to hear more?

We offer no-obligation consultations with a Consulting Partner to understand your challenges and explore how we might help.

Speak to a specialist Discuss your requirement