Consultancy Services
Ethical, specialist engagement and co-production with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
Friends, Families and Travellers provides expert consultancy services that support organisations to design, deliver and evaluate work with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in a way that is ethical, inclusive and grounded in lived experience.
We work across health, housing, education, criminal justice, academia and the voluntary sector to ensure that engagement is meaningful, not tokenistic, and that community voices directly inform decisions, policy and service design.
Our consultancy combines trusted community relationships with specialist facilitation, research and co-production expertise.
We support organisations with:
- Co-production of services, policies and programmes
- Community engagement and consultation design
- Focus groups, workshops and lived experience panels
- 1:1 qualitative interviews and research support
- Peer research and participatory approaches
- Advisory and steering group facilitation
- Evaluation and insight gathering
- Strategic advice on inclusion and engagement
- Reporting and recommendations development
Why work with FFT
Engagement with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities requires trust, care and specialist understanding.
Our consultancy ensures:
- Engagement is ethical and trauma-informed
- Participation is meaningful and properly supported
- Communities are not consulted in isolation from decision-making
- Facilitation is handled with cultural and contextual awareness
- Findings are interpreted accurately and responsibly
- Outputs lead to practical, usable change
We are not an external research supplier operating at distance. We are a national organisation with long-standing relationships and accountability to the communities involved.
How we work
All consultancy projects are tailored, but typically follow these stages:
1
Scoping and project design
2
Engagement planning with communities
3
Delivery of consultation or research activity
4
Analysis and interpretation of findings
5
Reporting and recommendations
6
Optional implementation or follow-up support
We can support at any stage of a project, from early design through to evaluation.
Group engagement and co-production
We design and deliver structured engagement activities including focus groups, workshops and lived experience panels.
These sessions are carefully facilitated to ensure accessibility, safety and meaningful participation.
What this includes:
- Design of engagement approach
- Recruitment and outreach support
- Facilitation by experienced staff
- Participant support and accessibility considerations
- Documentation and synthesis of findings
1:1 interviews and qualitative research
We conduct ethical, structured interviews with community members to support research, service design and evaluation.
We ensure:
- Clear informed consent processes
- Appropriate participant support
- Safe and accessible interview settings
- Accurate recording and analysis of insights
We can also support organisations with interview design, recruitment and interpretation of findings.
Peer research and lived experience approaches
We support participatory and peer-led research approaches where appropriate, including training and support for lived experience researchers.
This helps organisations move beyond consultation towards shared knowledge production and more equitable research practice.
Outputs and reporting
We provide clear, usable outputs tailored to your organisation’s needs, including:
- Thematic analysis of engagement findings
- Policy and service recommendations
- Summary reports for stakeholders
- Presentation of findings to teams or boards
- Support for implementation planning
We focus on outputs that lead to action, not documentation for its own sake.
Who we work with
We regularly support:
- NHS organisations and Integrated Care Boards
- Local authorities and housing providers
- Universities and research institutions
- National charities and advocacy organisations
- Government and policy bodies
- Criminal justice and community safety partnerships
What makes our approach different
Trusted access to communities
We have established relationships built over time, enabling more meaningful and honest engagement.
Lived experience insight
Our work is grounded in real experience of the systems being explored.
Skilled facilitation
We manage sensitive, complex and high-stakes engagement with care and professionalism.
Action-focused outputs
We prioritise findings that can be used to change practice, not just describe it.
Pricing approach
We work transparently and provide tailored quotes for all consultancy projects based on scope, complexity and level of engagement required.
Costs vary depending on:
- Scale and duration of engagement
- Level of participant support required
- Sensitivity and complexity of topic
- Location and logistical requirements
- Analytical and reporting requirements
Typical consultancy day rates and engagement costs are available on request.
This includes indicative costs for:
- Facilitation and staffing
- Focus groups and workshops
- 1:1 interviews
- Peer research activity
- Participant support (vouchers, travel, venue costs)
- Coordination and administration
Example project budgets
To support commissioning decisions, we can provide indicative budgets such as:
- Small-scale consultation (single focus group or workshop + reporting)
- Medium engagement programme (multiple groups + interviews + analysis)
- Large co-production programme (multi-site engagement + facilitation + reporting + strategic recommendations)
We are happy to scope projects and provide clear fixed quotes once requirements are defined.
Working with us
We support both standalone consultancy projects and longer-term programmes of engagement and co-production.
We can also integrate consultancy with:
- Training programmes
- Strategic advisory work
- Evaluation and impact measurement
- Service redesign processes
Book consultancy support
Whether you are designing a new service, developing policy, evaluating impact or seeking meaningful community engagement, we can support you to do this in a way that is ethical, practical and effective.
Next steps:
- Request a tailored quote
- Discuss your project with our team
- Explore co-production options