Who We Are
Frontline Consulting was established in 2007 by Ann Reeder. Our focus is on the role of elected members and good governance. We work with all types of council and specialise in developing relationships between councillors and across tiers and across the publicly funded sector in England. We work with police (fire) and crime panels in England and Wales.
We include experienced leaders, chairs, executive and non-executive councillors and officers who understand the politics of local government and the wider public sector. Our expanding work with town and parish councillors is led by an experienced town and parish clerk. Our Associates have worked in local authorities, the civil service, the NHS, business and the third sector.
We also have worked with the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, East Midlands Councils, Grant Thornton UK LLP, Hoey Ainscough Associates, Local Government Association, Local Government Information Unit and South West Councils and organisations who support the Non-Executive Academy.
ann@frontlineconsulting.co.uk
Ann Reeder established the consultancy, Frontline Consulting Associates, in 2007 to work with councillors in fulfilling their frontline roles and responding to changes across the publicly funded sector in England and Wales. It has expanded to include work with Police and Crime Panels and the non-executive academy.
Ann also is an adviser with the Centre for Public Scrutiny, an associate tutor and Association of Democratic Services Officers (ADSO) regional assessor with South West Councils and a consultant with the Local Government information Unit (LGiU). Ann has worked with the Local Government Association, the former IDeA and the Leadership Centre for Local Government.
Ann has been an active ward councillor, a cabinet member and in the leadership of a London borough. Ann also has experience in a minority administration on a hung council. She has been on the board of a regeneration project and chaired a town centre partnership. She has also been a parish councillor in Somerset.
Ann focuses on governance issues in councils, having served on the working group for new structures in her authority and having worked in both the committee system and the leader, cabinet and scrutiny model. She specialises in local democracy, community engagement and overview and scrutiny, having conducted reviews across the country. Ann is also interested in the political management of groups, having been the national head of local government for a political party. In that role, Ann worked closely with ministers and local government agencies.
Ann has been an agent at numerous local and parliamentary elections, so she has broad experience in local democracy, electoral registration and representation.
Ann has been a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
nataliea@frontlineconsulting.co.uk
Natalie Ainscough is a specialist in understanding parliamentary procedures and advising senior figures on how to influence political and civil service thinking at senior levels.
Natalie is particularly skilled in analysing complex issues from all sides, analysing risks, helping people develop solutions and consensus while ensuring the issues are understood and clearly communicated.
She has nearly 10 years’ experience working on public policy development for government agencies. This includes nearly six years at Standards for England in a key policy role developing and implementing an evolving local standards framework where she led a multi-disciplinary team in the development of statutory guidance. She also developed and implemented entity risk management systems designed to identify, assess and prioritise risks to local authority governance from standards issues.
She has experience working with senior politicians and officers at national and local level and extensive knowledge of negotiating at the highest political levels across parties. Her particular areas of expertise are in understanding policy intentions behind legislation, production of clear and focused briefing and guidance materials and organising events. This includes responsibility for management of content for Standards for England’s national stakeholder conference.
Natalie is also a director of Hoey Ainscough Associates Ltd.
Dave Burn is an independent consultant with over 30 years of local government experience. He works with a variety of clients, commissions and public bodies and is also an associate with SOLACE, the Local Government information Unit (LGiU) and the Centre for Public Scrutiny.

richardc@frontlineconsulting.co.uk
Cllr Susan Dungworth, Associate
helenf@frontlineconsulting.co.uk
paulh@frontlineconsulting.co.uk
neiln@frontlineconsulting.co.uk
Su Turner is the founder and director of Insight to Impact Consulting Ltd. She has over 25 years’ experience in strategic, policy and partnership roles. This has enabled her to acquire a wealth of knowledge as well as an informed and deep understanding of the challenges facing many sectors, including:
Su is a highly experienced governance expert with a track record for improvement. She is a national leader of governance for the NCTL, qualified executive coach and mentor and skilled trainer and appreciative inquiry facilitator.
Su delivers training in safeguarding and children’ services and works with us on the #R29 campaign, “It’s About Governance,” being delivered through the non-executive academy.