Services
Strategy, people and operations, aligned — across six areas of work.
Each area can be delivered as a short, fixed-fee review or as a defined project. Day rates and retainers, where they are a better fit, are set out in a proposal, not here.
Governance
Governance Health Check from £595
Who it is for
Chairs, clerks, heads, bursars, trustees and owner-managers of schools, nurseries, charities and companies who want to know whether the basic governance paperwork is in order.
Problems it helps with
Governing documents, terms of reference or schemes of delegation that have not been reviewed for some time; thin or missing registers of interests; board minutes that do not show decisions clearly; core policies that have drifted out of date.
What is delivered
For a Governance Health Check: a desk review of up to twelve key documents, a short written report with a red, amber or green rating for each area, a top-ten action list with suggested owners, and a feedback call. It is a practical second pair of eyes. It is not a statutory compliance audit, a full external governance review, or legal advice.
Benefits
You leave with a clear picture of what to fix first, written in language a busy board can use, and a sense of what can wait. You are not signed up to a long review you did not ask for.
Engagement formats
The usual starting point is a Governance Health Check, from £595, typically six to eight hours. Deeper or follow-on work is scoped separately and priced in a written proposal.
Operations
Operational Improvement Sprint from £1,495
Who it is for
Leaders who can see that a process is stuck — finance admin, a compliance calendar, recruitment administration, data-protection records, health and safety paperwork, or a basic IT and cyber routine — and want it redesigned, not just discussed.
Problems it helps with
Work that lives in one person’s head; duplicated or missed steps; trackers that are out of date; a new system that was never properly bedded in; a setting that has grown faster than its admin.
What is delivered
For an Operational Improvement Sprint: a current-state process map and issues log, up to two redesigned procedures, a working tracker or calendar, a 90-day implementation plan with owners, a handover session, and a short check-in about a month later. We do not implement software or take over the function unless that is separately agreed.
Benefits
You get a usable system for one area, with enough explanation for staff to run it after the handover. The work is capped in hours, so the cost does not drift.
Engagement formats
The usual starting point is an Operational Improvement Sprint, from £1,495, typically fifteen to eighteen hours over four to six weeks, focused on one area. Broader operational support is priced in a proposal.
People and HR operations
Who it is for
Heads, owners, charity chief executives and managers who hold HR responsibility alongside everything else, and need the administration and the routines to be sound.
Problems it helps with
Recruitment files that are hard to reconstruct; safer-recruitment steps that are inconsistent; contracts or handbooks that have not kept pace with the organisation; line-management processes that exist only in outline.
What is delivered
A defined review or redesign of one people process or set of documents, with practical templates or a short written recommendation. We do not provide legal advice, represent you in a dispute, or run a formal investigation unless that is separately agreed and within our competence.
Benefits
You get clearer, more consistent people administration, and a better trail if a process is later questioned. Staff know what “good” looks like for the process in question.
Engagement formats
This work is often delivered as an Operational Improvement Sprint, from £1,495, or as a scoped project set out in a proposal. There is no separate published day rate on this site.
Inspection readiness
From £595 remote, or from £995 with an on-site half-day visit
Who it is for
Schools preparing for inspection (Ofsted or ISI) and early years settings that want their operational and safeguarding administration in better order before they are inspected. It is also relevant after a period of change, such as a new head, a merger or a move of site.
Problems it helps with
Evidence that is scattered; policies that do not match practice; gaps in the administrative trail that only become obvious under time pressure. The work is about systems and records, not about coaching a teaching judgement.
What is delivered
A structured review of the evidence and admin you already hold, a written note of gaps and priorities, and, if you choose the on-site option, a half-day visit. We do not carry out a formal inspection, and we do not guarantee an inspection grade or outcome.
Benefits
You have a clearer list of what to tighten, and more time to do it, rather than discovering gaps in the week of the visit.
Engagement formats
An Inspection-Readiness Check starts from £595 as a remote desk review, or from £995 with an on-site half-day visit. Travel beyond an agreed local radius is charged at cost if a visit is booked.
This offer is a review of readiness, not an inspection and not a prediction of a result.
Fractional and project leadership
Who it is for
Organisations that need senior operational capacity for a defined period — a gap in a business-manager or operations role, a project that needs a steady hand, or a board that wants part-time leadership without a permanent hire.
Problems it helps with
A vacancy or absence in a senior operations role; a project that has no obvious owner; a leader who is covering too many functions and needs the work split cleanly for a time.
What is delivered
Agreed days or a project plan, written reporting to the person who commissions the work, and a clear end point or review date. We work within the authority you give us in the scope. We do not present this as a full-time interim appointment unless that is what we have agreed in writing.
Benefits
You get experienced operational leadership for as long as you need it, without building a permanent post you may not yet require.
Engagement formats
Fees for fractional, retained or interim work are set in a written proposal. They are not listed as a day rate or retainer on this website.
Compliance systems
Who it is for
Organisations that must keep a calendar of statutory and regulatory tasks — Charity Commission or Companies House filings, data-protection obligations, health and safety administration, policy review cycles — and want one system that people will actually use.
Problems it helps with
Deadlines that live in inboxes; policies with no review date; data-protection records that were started and not finished; health and safety administration that depends on one person being in the building.
What is delivered
A working compliance calendar or tracker, a short set of routines, and, where agreed, a light review of the policy cycle. This is administrative and good-practice support. It is not a legal opinion, an audit, or a health and safety inspection.
Benefits
Responsibilities are visible, review dates are in one place, and the organisation is less exposed to something important being missed.
Engagement formats
This is often an Operational Improvement Sprint, from £1,495, or part of a Governance Health Check if the issue is mainly documentary. Wider programmes are priced in a proposal.
A note on scope
Aligned Pathway does not provide legal, employment-law, financial or regulated advice, and does not carry out statutory audits. If a question needs a solicitor, accountant or other regulated professional, we will say so.