About OPM

Who we work with and what we do

We work with organisations in local and central government, health, social care and children’s services, the voluntary sector and social enterprise, the police and community safety, and education. All the people we work with share a common commitment: a determination to improve the well-being of the communities they serve.

The issues we focus on vary as widely as the people and organisations we work with. Key themes include demonstrating the impact of innovation and investment, unlocking local community capacity, improving standards for service users despite considerable financial pressure, developing the ability of leaders and organisations to manage change, ensuring that commissioning strategies and models lead to the best possible outcomes, and collaborating productively across institutional and sector boundaries.

Strong project management, stakeholder engagement and the use of evidence underpin all of our work. Our commitment to the highest quality standards is demonstrated by OPM’s systems being ISO 9001 accredited.

As a 100 per cent employee-owned company, OPM has been at the forefront of efforts to increase staff ownership of public services, including providing expert support to Cabinet Office mutual pathfinders and supporting the delivery of the Mutuals Information Service.

We’re really excited to announce that OPM has expanded by taking over ownership of industry-leading consultation practitioners Dialogue by Design.

Chief executive of the OPM Group Hilary Thompson said “This has got 2012 off to a great start. Adding Dialogue by Design’s capacity and expertise to OPM’s presents an excellent opportunity, enabling us to offer the highest quality consultation and engagement services to organisations dealing with complex strategic, business and customer issues.” 

The acquisition is a crucial part of OPM’s proactive response to changing patterns of need in a complex public service and regulatory landscape. Organisations across sectors and industries require ever-deeper levels of expertise in a growing range of areas, which is why at the same time OPM is also developing its relationships with a wider pool of close associates.

More details about the acquisition.

Approved government suppliers

OPM is an approved supplier under the following national frameworks:

Business Innovation and Skills - Futures work for Foresight (with partners)
Buying Solutions - Consultancy Services (with partners)
DWP - Social and Economic Research Services (with partners)
HM Prison Service - Leadership and Management Development
LGID - IDeA Consultancy Covering Generic Skills
National Audit Office - VFM Strategic Partners (with Frontier Economics)
Newcastle City Council - Leadership and Management Development
NHS London - Realtime Leadership Development
NHS South East Coast - Talent and Management Development
West Hertfordshire NHS - Leadership
Worcestershire County Council - Management Development
Trafford Council/AGMA - Greater Manchester Workforce Development Training
Children’s Improvement Board - Children’s Services Improvement Support (part of the Springboard Consortium)

Our values and commitments

Firm commitment to improving social outcomes runs through all the work we do with public services. We also invest in a wide range of activities as part of our Public Interest Programme, including research, events and capacity building. We share what we learn from our work with public services in many ways, including on our blog.

Employee ownership means that in principle and in practice, every member of staff at OPM has an equal say in the overall direction of the business. Our commitment to participation and transparency was recognised when OPM was highly commended in the ‘people and culture’ category at the Philip Baxendale Awards for employee ownership, in 2011.

As well as upholding the highest standards of equality and diversity at OPM, we’re deeply experienced in supporting public services to reflect them in their own organisations and services.

We’re also committed to reducing our environmental impact and carbon footprint, and are accredited by Carbon Smart. In 2010 we earned the Carbon Smart Gold Award for the third year running (www.carbonsmart.co.uk). We are ISO 14001 accredited.