Consultancy and agency records and AI training: a UK guide

Consultancies and agencies are built on know-how: how to diagnose a problem, run a project, write a pitch or plan a campaign. Their records show that work step by step, in decks, statements of work, project files, email and chat. AI developers want records like these, because they show how professional services are actually delivered.

This guide covers management consultancies (SIC 70229), financial management consultancies (70221), PR firms (70210), advertising agencies (73110), media representation (73120), market research (73200) and design studios (74100) (Companies House). Some digital agencies are registered under software codes instead; our software and IT guide covers code. For the basics, start with our UK guide to selling company data to AI developers.

What consultancies and agencies hold

• Client work. Proposals, statements of work, decks, reports, models, creative work and campaign plans.
• Pitches. Including pitches you did not win.
• Methods. Frameworks, playbooks, templates, training and internal guides.
• Project records. Plans, status reports, email, chat and meeting notes.
• Business records. CRM, timesheets, billing, finance and HR.

Who owns the work

• Your staff's work. The company owns it, unless an agreement says otherwise (CDPA 1988, s11(2)).
• Commissioned work. By default, the creator is the first owner of commissioned work "unless you otherwise agree it in writing". A court may still find that the client has an implied licence "for the purpose for which it was commissioned" (IPO). Any assignment must be "in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor" (CDPA 1988, s90(3)).
• Client contracts. Your client contracts may change the default. Agency agreements based on the ISBA and IPA guidelines offer options from assignment to the client "subject to payment of fees and compliance with agreement", to the agency keeping ownership and granting a licence (guidelines). Public-sector work follows the same pattern: under the government's Mid-tier Contract, the buyer owns new IPR under Options 1 and 2, and the supplier under Options 3 and 4 (Cabinet Office).
• Pitches. The same guidelines include an optional clause under which the agency keeps "the copyright in any material contained in any presentation made in competition" if its pitch is unsuccessful. Check any NDA you signed for the pitch.
• Third-party material. The guidelines describe "Existing Material" as "third party materials already in existence", such as stock footage and images. They say "agencies supplying Existing Material will often not provide more than a licence" (guidelines). Those rights are not yours to pass on.

Recent contracts may say more. The ISBA and IPA Creative Services Framework Agreement 2025 "introduces new clauses addressing Generative AI" (IPA). Check any client contract signed on it.

Confidentiality applies on top of ownership. The Institute of Consulting's code asks members to "Safeguard all confidential and/or proprietary information that comes into my possession", and to "Safeguard confidential information and not seek personal advantage from it" (Institute of Consulting).

So the records you are most likely to be able to license are your own: internal operations, methods and templates, and pitches you did not win, with client details removed.

What must stay out

• Client deliverables you do not own. Anything assigned to the client, or restricted by confidentiality terms.
• Campaign and customer data. An agency that runs campaigns with a client's customer data usually acts as the client's processor. A processor may process personal data "only on documented instructions from the controller" (UK GDPR, Article 28). The ICO warns: "If you act outside your instructions or process for your own purposes, you will step outside your role as a processor and become a controller for that processing" (ICO).
• Research participants' data. The MRS Code says "Members must ensure that there is a lawful basis for the further processing of data for a secondary purpose" (rule 42), and that participants' anonymity must be "preserved unless participants have given their informed consent" (rule 49) (MRS).
• Personal data in your own records. Staff, contacts and client staff named in email, chat and CRM.
• Third-party material. Stock images, fonts, music, research reports and licensed tools.

What buyers want

• Mercor names professional services as a sector, and asks for "Client decks, SOWs, project files" (Mercor).
• micro1 wants SOPs, knowledge bases, project histories and examples of how teams make decisions, from companies with 30 or more staff.
• Mode sets a minimum of 30 staff for most businesses, and says records "can include email, documents, chat, CRM, and billing data" (Mode).
• Pewter, a US firm that runs data-licensing deals for owners of US firms, lists a marketing agency deal at $110,000 for an "Operational record of a global agency, anonymized before delivery. Perpetual, exclusive license." Another licensing firm published it, and Pewter says it has not independently verified it (Pewter).

Several buyers ask for client decks and project files. For a UK firm, those are the records most likely to be restricted, so check ownership and confidentiality before you offer them. Your own methods and operating records are usually the safer place to start.

If the firm is closing or insolvent

Professional, scientific and technical activities, which include consultancy, advertising and market research, had 1,913 company insolvencies in England and Wales in the 12 months to August 2026 (Insolvency Service). There is no figure for consultancies and agencies alone.

When a firm closes, its methods, templates and records are company property, and a liquidator can realise them. Client contracts and NDAs still apply to the records. Our guides to company records in insolvency and closing a company explain the options.

Before you talk to buyers

1. List your client contracts. Note who owns the deliverables under each one.
2. Separate your own methods. Templates, playbooks, training and internal records.
3. Check pitch NDAs. Do this before you include any lost pitch.
4. Leave out data you hold for clients. Campaign data and research data stay out.
5. Remove third-party material. Stock, fonts, music and licensed tools.
6. De-identify clients. Remove names and identifying detail from everything you keep in scope.

Tydex values a firm's records from basic facts, finds buyers whose criteria fit, and brings you written offers. Get a free valuation.