CIPR Newsroom

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ (CIPR) Engage podcast returns with a new episode on supporting colleagues through menopause, released ahead of World Menopause Day on 18 October.

Episode 25 – Supporting Menopause at Work – is hosted by Stuart Culley Chart.PR, an in-house communications practitioner in the construction sector and CIPR EDI Champion. In this episode, Stuarts sets out to learn what perimenopause and menopause mean for the people going through them and for the colleagues, line managers, and partners who support them.

Stuart is joined by guests:

• Helen Crumley Chart.PR, a communications leader with 25 years’ experience across the public, health and not-for-profit sectors
• Ruth Rosselson, Resilience Co-ordinator at Manchester Mind
• Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe Chart.PR, a strategic corporate communications leader in the public sector and EDI Champion for the CIPR North West Group

Drawing on their own experiences, the guests explain how symptoms can begin years before periods stop and can last for many years. They describe symptoms that go well beyond hot flushes, including poor sleep, anxiety, heart palpitations, and forgetfulness. They also discuss how they found support through their GP, HRT, mindfulness, and peer groups. The panel looks at why some women reduce their hours or leave work and at what organisations lose when they do.

The panel concludes by examining what good workplace support looks like. This ranges from reasonable adjustments tailored to the individual, such as flexible working and workplace passports, to line managers who know the policy and start with a conversation. Guests make the case for treating menopause like any other inclusion need. They also explain how anyone can be an ally by listening and pointing colleagues towards policies and support groups.

Alongside the episode, the CIPR has published a menopause resource pack curated by Deepa Thomas-Sutcliffe. The pack explains the stages of menopause and sets out practical resources that employers, line managers, colleagues and people going through menopause can all use.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has welcomed 21 organisations as Corporate Affiliate members from April to September 2026. They include a devolved legislature, government agencies, universities, communications agencies, and more.

These new members join a community of over 300 Corporate Affiliates, each committed to developing their PR and communications teams and upholding the highest ethical and professional standards.

Corporate Affiliate membership gives organisations dedicated relationship management, CPD support and routes to Accredited and Chartered status for their teams.

The latest corporate members to join the CIPR are:

• Bangor University
• Be Broadcast
• CIPD
• City Press
• ComfortDelGro Bus & Coach UK & Ireland
• Conscious Communications
• Empica
• Government Legal Department
• Housing Ombudsman Service
• Howden
• Immediate Media
• LUYA Agency Ltd
• Maritime and Coastguard Agency
• Meeting Place
• Northern Ireland Assembly
• The Royal British Legion
• Scottish Water
• Thames Water Utilities Ltd
• University of Warwick
• Vireo Communications
• Wheatley Group

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has today released a new episode of its Engage podcast, examining the role of communicators on organisational boards in an era of permacrisis.

Hosted by Katherine Sykes Chart.PR, FCIPR, Co-Chair of the CIPR Crisis Communications Network – Crisis Communications for Boards – features Dr Jon White Chart.PR, Hon FCIPR, a researcher and consultant in public relations and corporate communication management, and Kerry Knight Chart.PR, a senior strategic communicator specialising in crisis preparedness, reputation management and AI governance.

The episode draws on the handbook of the same name, published by the CIPR Crisis Communication Network in partnership with the Institute of Directors.

The panel discuss how interconnected risks have turned crises from isolated events into fast-moving, highly visible shocks that can escalate within hours. They set out the handbook's five-stage crisis cycle of predict, protect, prepare, respond and recover, and make the case for investing in preparedness before a crisis hits through scenario planning and horizon scanning. The discussion also covers how public inquiries and the duty of candour can give a crisis a long tail after organisations believe it is over.

For PR professionals, the episode makes the case for framing advice in terms of consequences, business outcomes and organisational resilience, and for learning the language of the boardroom. It argues that crisis response cannot save bad decision-making, and that communicators add most value when boards bring them in to the spaces decisions are made.

Public relations and communication professionals in the UK and around the world are being urged to add their voices to a landmark global survey designed to deepen understanding of mental health and wellbeing across the profession and help shape healthier workplaces for the future.

The Global Mental Health and Wellbeing Survey, open throughout October and November 2026, aims to secure at least 5,000 responses across all global regions, with the results to be released in January 2027.

The ambition is to create the first global benchmark that helps the profession better understand the mental health and wellbeing of its people, the pressures they experience at work, what supports them to thrive, and where change is most needed.

The global initiative builds on the established UK mental health and wellbeing research programme of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA UK). These have now partnered with the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management to launch the survey globally for the first time.

The CIPR and PRCA’s most recent Mental Wellbeing Audit in the UK found that despite many workplaces affirming support for good mental health among their workforce, 91% of public relations professionals had experienced poor mental health in the previous 12 months. This compared with 63% of the wider UK workforce. Almost three in ten rated their job as highly stressful, while 58% identified overwhelming workload as a key source of workplace stress.

Independent research company Opinium, which conducted the original CIPR and PRCA research, has globalised the survey for this project, providing continuity from the established evidence base while scaling up worldwide.

Members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) have elected Anne-Marie Lacey Chart.PR FCIPR as President-Elect for 2027. She will become the Institute's President in 2028.

The Institute can also confirm that its Council has elected Paul Compton Chart.PR, MCIPR and Naomi MG Smith Chart.PR, FCIPR to the CIPR’s Board of Directors. Both will serve a three-year term from 2027 to 2029.

Anne-Marie is a Senior Lecturer in Public Relations at Newcastle University. A CIPR Fellow, she has sat on the Institute's Board of Directors and contributed to its recent syllabus review. She received the 2025 Sir Stephen Tallents' Medal for her service to the CIPR and her advocacy for professionalism, Chartership and qualifications.

She won the Outstanding Young Communicator Award at the 2014 CIPR North East PRide Awards and went on to win it nationally at the CIPR Excellence Awards in 2017. She has since judged both awards at regional and national level.

Anne-Marie will serve a three-year term on the Institute’s Board of Directors, from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2029. She will act as President-Elect in 2027, President in 2028, and Past-President in 2029.

Over half of public relations professionals say their organisation is more cautious about taking public positions on issues than it was five years ago. A similar number report that polarisation in society has made their job more difficult.