Consultancy is the provision of expert advice based on existing knowledge. Unlike research, the purpose of undertaking consultancy is not to create new original knowledge, although new information based on the application of expertise to a client’s challenge or problem may result from the work.
Consultancy is important for developing relationships with industry and achieving early impact from research. It can also lead to opportunities for longer term research collaboration.
The University encourages and supports consultancy which contributes to its aims of fostering enterprise and innovation and increasing external engagement with business and the wider community.
To ensure practical support is available, Lancaster University Consultancy provides advice and guidance and supports pricing, negotiating, contracting and invoicing, enabling you to focus on the delivery of the work. Indemnity insurance is also provided, ensuring that both you and the University are protected.
Engaging with real-world challenges helps you identify timely, relevant research questions that are grounded in practical need—enhancing the originality and significance of your academic work.
Consultancy provides current challenges and case studies that can enrich your teaching—making learning more engaging and relevant for students.
Working with external partners opens doors to new professional networks across industry, government, and the public sector—broadening your reach and influence.
Consultancy is a direct route to demonstrating the value of your research when applied to current organisation challenges—strengthening your contribution to institutional impact strategies and REF case studies.
Strong relationships with external organisations can lead to student placements, internships, and even funded Phd studentships
Consultancy often lays the foundation for funded collaborative projects and long-term partnerships that combine academic insight with practical application.
Consultancy provides an opportunity to generate additional personal income, as well as financial contributions to your department or research centre—which can enhance your academic career.
Most consultancy is recognised as ‘Individual Consultancy’, an opportunity initiated between a member of staff and an outside organisation that does not make a significant call on University resources. It is normally delivered outside of workload, so does not affect the delivery of teaching, research or other key role-related duties. In most cases the University provides the service without a charge for these opportunities. However, the cost of any University resources used must be recovered before final payments are made.
The Consultancy Service can also support ‘University Consultancy’: For a number of roles across the University, it is part of the core role description to deliver consultancy and related income-generating opportunities for the University. In such cases the work is considered to be part of normal workload, and the income is returned to the relevant department with estates and indirect costs accounted for in the appropriate way. If there is any doubt surrounding the status of a consultancy opportunity, it is the approver who confirms the designation. Please ensure all ‘University Consultancy’ is marked as such on the application form.
Staff may choose to deliver consultancy outside of the University and without support, however approval is still required under the HR policy ‘Rules Governing Outside Professional Activities’, which can be found on the policies section of the HR website. We aim to make the Consultancy Service as effective as possible, so if it does not currently meet your needs, please do get in touch and let us know why. We will endeavour to take all feedback into account as we develop the service further.
To see some recent consultancy success stories, visit our case studies page.
Consultancy Case Studies
Proposal - From initial enquiry, pricing and proposal form submission to approval
Most opportunities start with an enquiry from a business or other organisation. Get in touch with the consultancy team early on to inform your discussions around price and outline terms.
Once more of the details are known, complete and submit the form. This is routed via your HoD or Director for approval.
Contract - The consultancy team negotiates and agrees a contract with the client.
A deal is always about more than just delivery of a service for a price. The contract determines who carries what risks and responsibilities so is an important part of the agreement.
LU Consultancy will discuss the legal terms with your client and negotiate an agreement that is fair.
Delivery - Once the contract is signed it is over to you to deliver the agreed services.
It is really important not to start any work until the contract is agreed and finalised. Doing so can have big legal implications. The consultancy team will confirm when it is ok to proceed.
During the delivery stage keep the consultancy team informed if there are to be any changes to the agreed scope of services, delays to the agreed delivery timescales, or other changes that may have contractual implications.
The Consultancy Team will arrange invoicing, followed by payment or transfer of the funds to you or the department as indicated in your application form
Payment for individual consultancy can be made to salary (subject to all tax and NI deductions), or to personal research accounts where these are available to you (spending from these is subject to normal University spending rules). You may even choose to arrange a voluntary additional pension contribution to coincide with your payment. This can be a very tax-efficient way to receive the income. Some staff also opt to make a percentage donation to their department. A preferred split between these choices can be indicated on the application form.
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This is where an individual has been asked to provide services by an outside organisation that does not make a significant call on university resources. It is usually delivered outside of workload, so does not affect the delivery of teaching, research or other key-role related duties.
This generally comes about through an enquiry to a department or generated by engagement staff. For many roles across the University, it is part of the core role description to deliver consultancy and other related income-generating opportunities for the University. University consultancy will form part of your usual workload and may use University resource, facilities or intellectual property. Income for any University consultancy will be returned to your department and faculty unless otherwise agreed by your Head of Department.
The Consultancy Service provides support for free. However, each Head of Department has the discretion to request a percentage is returned to the department for Individual consultancy carried out within workload time. The percentage amount is dependent on the workload allowance requested and the use of University IP, facilities and equipment. Please discuss this with your Head of Department in advance, as it is not a calculation determined by the service.
The Consultancy Service reserves the right to charge a small fee where the complexity of the contracting arrangements mean that a significant amount of time is needed to set up and manage the project. Where this is the case, this will be agreed with the consultant.
Income can be transferred via salary payment (subject to all tax and NI deductions) and/or to a Personal Research Code (PRC) where these are available to you (spending from these is subject to normal University spending rules). You may even choose to arrange voluntary additional pension contribution to coincide with your payment. This can be a very tax efficient way to receive income. Some staff may opt to make a percentage donation to their department.
Payment will be made after the income for the consultancy services has been paid to the University from the Client in the soonest available payment slot dependent upon monthly payroll deadlines.
Yes, you will need Head of Department approval. Once you have submitted an application, this will be obtained on your behalf by the consultancy team.
Lancaster does not cap the number of days/hours you can work externally to the university, in recognition of the fact that individual’s circumstances differ. However, it is a contractual obligation to seek Head of Department approval when you do, even if you choose to contract outside of the university rather than use the university’s support service. The approval provides a check and balance around overall time commitments, as well as around potential conflicts of interest.
The university’s HR policy entitled ‘Rules Governing Outside Professional Interests’ allows approvers (usually Heads of Department for academic staff) to approve a workload time allowance of ‘up to’ one day a week. This is for individuals to undertake consultancy (or any other outside professional activity) where specific benefits can be demonstrated in terms of experience relevant to the individual’s career, relationship-building or other opportunities that can be beneficial for the department, faculty or wider university.
The allowance is project specific, and approval must be renewed each year for longer-term projects.
Overheads are estates costs, ISS costs and all the other costs of running the University wrapped up as part of the Universities cost recovery model. It is used, along with your salary costs, to calculate the actual cost to the University of your employment each day. It is a financial model set by government and used by all UK Universities.
We use this, plus a reasonable commercial uplift, to propose a fair consultancy rate to charge an external client for your time.
The university’s HR policy entitled ‘Rules Governing Outside Professional Interests’ sets out the framework within which approvers (usually Heads of Department for academic staff) grant approval for individuals to undertake outside professional activities. This is usually other paid work but also includes voluntary roles such as non-executive directorships, trustees and other positions of influence.
Approval in advance is a contractual requirement under university terms of employment, to ensure an employee’s primary obligation remains to the university, and that no conflict of interest occurs between employment at the university and commitments or obligations for other organisations. A link to the approval form is provided within the policy.
5000 codes are only set up for consultancy projects, and typically only used for charging materials and expenses directly linked with the consultancy work. Although we do try to be flexible to accommodate different scenarios, 5000 codes are typically only open for the length of the consultancy work and act as a ‘pit stop’ for the funds before we pay them to salary, PRC, and/or department. We can hold funds in a 5000 code for some time while consultants are deciding how/where they want to allocate their funds, but they are not meant to be treated like 6000 codes and used for funding research activities from them directly. 6000 codes can be used for charging a range of research and other activities based on your department’s rules.
Consultancy services are not permitted to set up these 6000 codes, but we will create a 5000 code that we can invoice and receive income from and transfer it to the PRC 6000 code when available.
The university is keen to recognise and support staff with opportunities to undertake consultancy and offers a consultancy managed service that can support you with pricing, contracting and invoicing. This also provides you with cover under the university’s indemnity insurance policy. There is normally no fee for this service*.
*The consultancy managed service reserves the right to charge a small fee where the complexity of the contracting arrangements mean that a significant amount of time is needed to set up and manage the project for you. Where this is the case, this will be agreed with you in advance of set-up.
Consultancy is an effective tool for the delivery of knowledge exchange, but also in the long term supports further benefits including placement opportunities and collaborative research. Not least, we can report these figures which then support HEIF income.
Where an individual is undertaking Individual Consultancy rather than University Consultancy it shall be completed in an individuals’ own time. This is unless the Head of Department agrees with the individual that it may be undertaken during university time, as part of the allowance for ‘Outside Professional Activities’.
1) Notwithstanding the principle that Individual Consultancy must not prevent the member of staff from fulfilling their full range of obligations to the University, authorisers may grant eligible staff a time allowance of up to one day a week (pro rata for part-time staff) to undertake Individual Consultancy where relevant benefits are identified, with no reduction of salary.
Relevant benefits include, but are not limited to, that the work:
2) When Individual Consultancy is delivered, primarily outside of workload, without significant call on university resources, the university’s policy is to return the full income to the individual. When University Consultancy is delivered, primarily as part of workload with use of university resources, then the university’s policy is that the income be returned to the relevant department/s.
3) Where the fulfilment of Individual Consultancy requires support from the Department, such as flexibility in timetabling other activities, the individual is expected to agree an appropriate percentage return to the department in recognition of that support. Equally, where fulfilment of University Consultancy places significant additional workload or time pressure on the individual staff member, then the Department is expected to agree an appropriate percentage return to the individual in recognition of the extra workload.
