Get your whole team judging consultation the same way.
The Charter Workshop walks your team through the seven principles of the Consultation Charter and the Gunning Principles behind them, then tests them against your own work, so everyone leaves with one shared standard for what fair, lawful consultation looks like.
Seven principles. Select one.
In the workshop we take each in turn, what it requires, what it looks like in practice, and how to spot when it has gone missing.
Integrity
The consultation is run with a genuine intention to listen, and a real willingness to be influenced by what comes back.
The decision is still open when you ask. People can see their input could change the outcome.
The answer is already settled and the exercise is for show. Challengers spot a foregone conclusion fast.
Visibility
The people affected know the consultation is happening, what it is about, and how to take part.
You reach people where they already are, not just on a page no one visits, and say plainly how to respond.
A notice buried on the website. Afterwards, the people most affected say they never knew.
Accessibility
Everyone who should have a say can take part, in formats and language they can use.
Plain language, alternative formats, and routes in for people who are rarely heard from.
Jargon, one channel, no adjustments, and an equalities gap that scrutiny will press on.
Transparency
The process is open, how it is run, who decides, and how responses feed into that decision.
You publish the process up front: the timeline, the decision route, and how views will be weighed.
A black box. Responses go in, a decision comes out, and no one can see the link between them.
Disclosure
Enough information is shared, clearly, for people to understand the proposal and respond intelligently.
The reasons, the options, and the trade-offs are laid out so an ordinary reader can engage with them.
Key facts withheld or too thin to respond to, failing the Gunning test of intelligent consideration.
Fair interpretation
Responses are read and analysed fairly, weighing what was said rather than counting heads.
Analysis that treats a consultation as evidence, not a vote, and records how themes were judged.
Cherry-picked quotes or a raw tally that ignores the strength and substance of what people argued.
Publication
The outcome and the reasoning behind the decision are published, closing the loop with those who took part.
You tell people what you decided and why, including where you went against the weight of responses.
Silence after the closing date. Participants never learn whether their effort counted for anything.
Scrutiny does not test how many people you reached. It tests your judgement, the timing, the honesty of your information, and whether views shaped the decision.
Everyone talks it through together, so the standard is one the whole team owns, not one handed down.
A working session, not a lecture.
Expert input is paced with discussion and real case studies, so your team applies each idea as it goes.
Why it matters
What scrutiny, challenge and judicial review actually test, and why good consultation is a governance issue, not a communications one.
The seven principles
Each Charter principle in turn, with the Gunning Principles that sit behind them, brought to life through real cases.
Against your own work
Small-group discussion applying the Charter to your live or planned consultations, testing ideas on real examples from your sector.
What to do next
Practical, named steps to strengthen your organisation’s practice, and where independent assurance fits if you need it.
What your team leaves with
A working grasp of the seven principles of the Consultation Charter.
A clear sense of how the Charter strengthens governance and manages risk.
Lessons drawn from sector-specific case studies, mapped to your context.
Practical, named steps to improve your organisation’s consultation practice.
Delivered however suits you
One team or a directorateRemote session
Run live over video for distributed teams, with the same discussion and case work built in.
On your site
A facilitator in the room, best when a team needs to work through a contested or high-profile decision together.
Shaped to your sector
Examples drawn from your field: NHS, local government, transport, policing or infrastructure.
Give everyone the same starting point.
Tell us about your team and your sector, and we will shape a Charter Workshop around the work you do.