Assurance that will withstand external scrutiny.
An independent line of sight for boards, trustees and general counsel — how your organisation actually behaves against how it says it behaves, and against what the law and regulators require.
What it is
A rigorous, evidence-based audit of a defined area of organisational conduct: existing policies mapped against current legislation and sector best practice; regulatory audits and readiness for inspection; operational process audits testing compliance with your own SOPs and brand or contractual service level agreements; and GDPR / UK data protection compliance. Delivered to the evidential standard of an internal inquiry.
When you'd instruct us
- A regulator, inspection or ICO enquiry is imminent and internal assurance is not enough.
- You need policies benchmarked against current legislation, statutory guidance and sector best practice.
- Operations are drifting from SOPs, contractual SLAs or brand standards and the board needs independent evidence.
- A serious incident, data breach or complaint has occurred and you need an independent post-incident review.
- Insurers or acquirers are seeking third-party comfort on your controls.
What you receive
- A written audit report with findings, evidence log and prioritised recommendations against legislation, regulator expectations and internal standards.
- A briefing to the board or audit committee.
- Optional remediation tracking, policy re-drafting and implementation support after the report is delivered.
Typical engagement
Timeframes are agreed at instruction based on the scope of the work and its urgency. Fees are fixed and confidentiality arrangements are confirmed at the outset.
Anonymised example
Following an internal grievance that escalated externally, we conducted an independent culture, controls and policy audit for a mid-market corporate. Findings enabled the board to act decisively; the matter did not recur.
Illustrative UK cases
Publicly reported matters that illustrate the kind of exposure this discipline addresses. RAI Consultancy Ltd has no involvement in these cases; they are cited from reputable UK media and regulators for context only.
British Airways — £20m ICO fine for GDPR failings
2020The Information Commissioner's Office fined British Airways £20 million after a 2018 cyber attack compromised the personal and financial data of more than 400,000 customers, finding BA had failed to put adequate security measures in place — one of the largest UK GDPR enforcement penalties issued to date.
Source: BBC News ↗Starling Bank — £29m FCA fine for financial crime control failures
2024The Financial Conduct Authority fined Starling Bank £29 million for 'shockingly lax' financial crime controls, finding the bank had repeatedly breached a regulatory requirement not to open accounts for high-risk customers and failed to maintain adequate sanctions screening as it scaled from 43,000 to 3.6 million customers.
Source: FCA / The Guardian ↗
Confidential · Privileged · UK-wide