Grant Thornton's public sector team recognised with People and Leadership MCA award
Business and financial advisor Grant Thornton UK has won the ‘People and Leadership’ award at the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Awards 2026, for its leading approach in working with Sheffield City Council to resolve its long-standing equal-pay liability.
The MCA Awards are the UK’s leading celebration of consulting excellence. They highlight the outstanding work firms deliver in partnership with clients and the individuals and teams driving innovation, transformation and growth across every sector of the economy, both in the UK and globally.
The People and Leadership award recognises Grant Thornton’s innovative work in designing and delivering a programme that not only resolved the Council’s historic equal-pay liabilities but also rebuilt the Council’s job evaluation and pay governance. This included clearer documentation and decision-making procedures that are now applied consistently across the organisation.
Working together with the Council, the team brought together more than 250,000 HR and payroll records to create a single, reliable view of the workforce. Around 2,000 roles were also re‑evaluated through c.4,000 job evaluation meetings, where panels assess what each job involves and how it should be paid.
The programme delivered significant results, including redress for 3,600 employees and a £36 million settlement funded from reserves. The approach taken also improved workforce confidence by resolving the equal pay issue in a transparent and structured way, helping to rebuild trust across the organisation.
Phillip Woolley, Head of Public Sector, Grant Thornton UK, said:
“Equal pay has become a systemic risk for public and private sector employers alike. Too often, organisations enter protracted litigation and live with the consequences including lost trust, strained industrial relations, ongoing strike action and pay structures that continue to invite the next dispute.
"We didn’t take a standard approach to this issue. We worked alongside Sheffield City Council's teams throughout, bringing technical rigour at scale and building the solution together. The Council has now moved from managing a historic liability to operating with stronger records, processes and governance to support sustainable future pay decisions.”
Kate Josephs, Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council, said:
“Resolving this long-standing equal pay challenge was fundamentally about doing the right thing for our employees while protecting the services Sheffield people rely on. Working in partnership with Grant Thornton, we reached a fair and sustainable agreement that provides redress to 3,600 employees and avoids years of costly litigation.
“Just as importantly, this work has strengthened our data, job evaluation processes and pay governance, while building greater capability within the Council. It has helped rebuild trust with our workforce and trade unions and gives us a more resilient foundation for future workforce decisions and the wider transformation of the Council.”
Widely regarded as the benchmark for the profession, the MCA Awards are judged by independent experts from business, government, academia and the media. They champion the projects, firms and individuals delivering outstanding client impact and setting new standards across the profession.