Across public systems, commercial enterprises, founder-led organisations and community interest companies.
Client names are withheld throughout. Much of this work is market sensitive, and some of it is contested at the time it happens, which is usually the reason someone independent is asked to do it. Fuller detail and referees are available on request.
The difficulty. Competing claims about whether provision was still needed, made largely by people with a stake in the answer, and a budget decision that could not be deferred.
What changed. The review was held deliberately outside the service and the budget it examined. Asserted need was separated from evidenced need, and the gaps in the evidence were recorded as gaps rather than filled with something convenient. The authority came out with a position it could defend, and has worked to it since.
The difficulty. Low recorded demand for a sensitive service, in a financial climate where low demand is very easily read as no need.
What changed. The work separated what was known from what was simply unrecorded, and set out why under-reporting was the expected pattern rather than a reassuring one. The case was then made on the evidence rather than on the silence in it.
The difficulty. Cost pressure pointing one way and the experience of the people using the service pointing firmly the other.
What changed. What people described was carried into the specification itself rather than quoted in the introduction. The more expensive option was supported where the evidence justified it, and the reasoning was written down so the decision could be defended later.
The difficulty. Whether to move beyond a franchise model and deliver in its own right, when delivering would put it into the same space as the members it exists to support.
What changed. The question was reframed from whether it could to whether it should, and what the shift would ask of governance, income and independence. The organisation came out with a clear view of the role it was best placed to hold, and the ones to leave alone.
The difficulty. Several organisations each holding one part of the picture, and no shared account anywhere of how support was actually experienced.
What changed. Data, front-line experience and existing provision were brought into a single picture of what happens to a person rather than what each service describes. It was built to shape decisions rather than to illustrate a report.
The difficulty. A framework that would satisfy the funder was not the same as one that would be any use to the team doing the work.
What changed. The framework was co-designed with the delivery team, and interim findings were shared while there was still time to act on them. The final report told the funder something. The interim ones told the team something more useful.
The difficulty. A convincing case needed, no budget for new research, and a settled assumption that the existing evidence was too thin to carry it.
What changed. Existing monitoring data, case records and staff knowledge were pulled together into a case that stood up to a funder’s scrutiny. Nothing new was commissioned.
“Hayley has consistently helped create a fuller, more honest picture of the systems public sector organisations operate within. She brings together data, lived experience, VCSE insight and evidence in a way that genuinely informs decision-making and leads to a much richer understanding of what is happening in communities. She is particularly strong at making sense of complexity for a wide audience. Whether supporting commissioning, service redesign or partnership working, she creates the conditions for honest conversations while keeping a clear focus on what this means in practice.”
“Hayley approaches evaluation as something collaborative and empowering, not just a reporting exercise. Her insight helped us turn feedback into learning we could act on, and our funders really noticed the difference in how we told our story.”
“Hayley helped us to step back, ask the right questions, and reconnect with our purpose. Her approach gave our team confidence to make decisions with evidence rather than instinct. It has been transformational for how we plan and communicate impact.”
“Hayley’s passion for co-production is second to none. She is knowledgeable, genuine and knows how to engage diverse groups to make sure lived experience has a true place at the table. An absolute pleasure to work with.”
Access to what you already hold, such as strategies, reports and programme data, usually inside the first fortnight. The approach depends on making effective use of it, so the input is real but front-loaded.
Engagement runs through your existing forums, networks and events wherever possible. It is proportionate, and it reaches people who already trust the invitation.
Emerging findings are shared before they are final, at the point where you can still change course. Nobody benefits from a surprise in a final report.
All evidence, engagement material, maps and frameworks are handed over in accessible, editable formats. Nothing is delivered in a form that requires us to maintain it.
Practical consultancy for public systems, commercial enterprises, founder-led organisations and community interest companies.