Commissioning FAQs

The Esther Practice opened for commissioned work in 2026. Its first commissioned engagement has not yet taken place, and it says so plainly rather than borrow a track record.

What exists now:

• Live research. Since October 2026, people across sectors have been able to share accounts of racialised harm in organisations, institutions and schools.
• The Esther Practice™ Patterns. A pattern library built from documented accounts. Each pattern has a written definition and a boundary for what does and does not meet it.
• A published method, set out in full in the Research Ethics and Participant Protection Policy.
• The founder, Dionne Wilson-Brown, has around 25 years in community development and outreach, including work at the London Fire Brigade. She holds a counselling skills qualification and is training in integrative counselling.

The first organisation to commission is offered a founding rate. In return, it consents to an anonymised case summary that future clients can read. The summary never names the organisation or anyone in it.

The report is written to be read by a board. It is built so that it does not rely on identifying anyone.

• It names patterns across accounts. It does not investigate incidents, decide complaints or make findings against named people.
• It shows which legal and policy duties the patterns may touch. It never finds a breach, and it is not legal advice.
• Identifying details are removed before analysis. No one is identifiable in what is reported.
• Like any internal document, the report may be disclosable in legal proceedings. It is written with that in mind: precise, evidenced, and traced to what people said.
• The report is confidential to the organisation. It can go to the board or governors and to regulators. Publishing it outside the organisation needs The Esther Practice's written agreement, after a fresh check that no one can be identified.

• The organisation sends the link. The Esther Practice never receives a list of names.
• The organisation never sees individual answers and is not told who took part.
• Nothing is reported unless at least 5 people give an account. If fewer arrive, the form is extended once, by two weeks. If there are still fewer than 5, no findings are reported.
• Any group smaller than 5 is shown as "fewer than 5", never as a number.
• Quotes appear only with the person's permission, and with identifying details removed.
• Anyone can withdraw their account up to 7 days after the form closes.
• The agreement allows The Esther Practice to end the engagement if anyone tries to find out who took part, or puts pressure on anyone to take part or not.

The Esther Practice is a sole practice. There is no second analyst, and it does not claim one. What holds the work to account:

• Every finding is traced to the words people used. Patterns are never drawn from tick boxes.
• An account is linked to a pattern only when it meets that pattern's written definition. Where nothing fits, nothing is forced.
• The organisation sees a draft and has 10 working days to correct factual errors. Findings are not changed to suit the client.
• The method and its safeguards are published in the Research Ethics and Participant Protection Policy.

• Professional indemnity and cyber cover are in place before any agreement is signed. Details are confirmed in writing on request.
• Liability under the agreement is limited to the fee paid.
• The Esther Practice is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office. It is the data controller for the accounts it receives.

• It does not replace, investigate or give evidence in live grievances, complaints, appeals or tribunals. If the aim is to resolve a live case, this is the wrong tool.
• It looks across cases, at what a grievance process cannot see: the pattern, and the concerns that were never raised.
• The diagnostic does not need union involvement. The organisation can tell its recognised unions about it in the usual way. Accounts are never shared with anyone, unions included.
• It gives evidence for duties already in place or on the way:
  • Public Sector Equality Duty (public bodies, including fire and rescue services and schools): how decisions affect people by race, and where.
  • Ethnicity pay gap reporting: in March 2026 the government confirmed that employers with 250 or more staff will have to report ethnicity pay gaps and publish action plans. The legislation is still to come. A Gap Diagnostic shows where in decisions a gap gets in, which is what an action plan needs.
  • Inspection: in fire and rescue, the inspectorate's 2023 report on values and culture made 35 recommendations. In schools, inclusion is part of inspection.

1. A debrief on the findings.
2. Everyone invited receives a plain-language summary of the findings. The organisation shares it unaltered within 8 weeks of the report, and can add its own response alongside it.
3. Follow-up 1, after the next board or governors' meeting: has each recommendation been given a decision, an owner and a date?
4. Follow-up 2, about six months on: a short written update on each accepted recommendation. The Esther Practice's reply is copied to the chair.

Both follow-ups are included in the fee. Acting on the findings is the organisation's responsibility. Further support is a separate agreement and never a condition: a re-run Pulse after 12 months, or support on the changes a Gap identified. The report never recommends The Esther Practice to do the work.

• Pulse: the draft comes within four weeks of the account form closing. The final comes within 5 working days of the organisation's factual comments.
• Gap: the timeline is agreed at the scoping call.
• Cost: a fixed fee, agreed in writing before any work begins. Half is paid on signing and half on delivery. Prices are sent after an enquiry.

• A commissioning lead with the authority to act.
• Willingness to receive findings that challenge the current account of events.
• Acceptance that the language will not be softened.
• For a Gap, the organisation's own figures by ethnicity, as totals only.

Children do not take part directly yet. In a school, their experience comes through staff and families.

This is not training, a culture workshop, an EDI programme, counselling, an HR investigation or legal advice.