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In January 2026, the UK government launched a public consultation on children’s smartphone and social media use, but with a notable constraint: instead of an open call for ideas, ministers presented a shortlist of predetermined options. Should social media be banned under a certain age? Should the digital age of consent be raised? Should overnight

January 2026 – tCI has reopened its membership programme, offering consultation and engagement professionals across the UK and globally access to exclusive resources, professional development opportunities and a supportive peer network. Two Membership Tiers The relaunched programme offers two options: Individual Membership (£400/year ex VAT) is designed for independent consultants and individual practitioners looking to develop their

Recent reporting on a police decision to prevent supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv football club from attending a match in England has raised important questions for public authorities about public engagement and decision-making. Not about whether the decision itself was right or wrong, but about what should happen once a difficult decision has been taken

The High Court’s March 2024 ruling against the Home Office over West Midlands emergency services governance has exposed the scale of risk when consultation fails. The judgment demonstrates that cutting corners on stakeholder engagement doesn’t just create legal problems: it generates cascading risks that can derail entire reform programmes and damage organisational credibility for years.

Central government planning and housing consultations now provide the clearest test of whether consultation supports decision making or simply manages exposure to challenge. Since 2021, consultation has played a central role in planning reform. The issue is not frequency. It is design. Across multiple national consultations, the same failures recur. Digital First Without Judgement Central

Introduction In public decision making, it is common to treat volume as protection. More meetings. More survey returns. More submissions. The assumption is that a larger evidence base makes a decision safer under scrutiny. That assumption is often wrong. Scrutiny rarely turns on how much engagement you ran. It turns on whether your evidence base