The NES is the UK's leading EDI assessment framework. Developed in partnership with the UK Government, it provides independent assessment of an organisation's leadership, culture and everyday practice against rigorous inclusion standards. The CIPR first achieved the standard in 2023, becoming the first professional body to hold it and the first organisation assessed on both its employed workforce and its volunteer community.

The 2026 reassessment placed the CIPR in the upper quartile of organisations assessed under the framework, with an overall score of 115 out of 150 and 22 of the 30 competencies met. The CIPR passed first time, something fewer than one in ten organisations achieve. Assessors identified improvement in its maturity rating since the last cycle and particular strengths in governance, accountability and strategic oversight; stakeholder insight and evidence-led decision-making; and inclusive recruitment and volunteer engagement.

Alongside its reaccreditation, the Institute has launched its updated EDI strategy covering 2026 to 2029. The strategy sets a clear expectation of the whole profession. It moves inclusive practice from something the CIPR champions to something it expects of every practitioner, treating it as a core part of what it means to be a competent and ethical public relations professional. The new strategy aligns the CIPR’s EDI work with its five-year priorities and details key areas of focus informed by the Institute’s 2025 member survey and other research into barriers to participation, progression and belonging in PR. This includes:

• socio-economic background and class;
• age;
• ethnicity and race;
• neurodiversity and cognitive differences;
• and disability

• Find out more about the National Equality Standard
• Find out more about the CIPR's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

The Institute has recently launched its first Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, outlining its plans and commitment to drive change inside the Institute and within and beyond the PR industry.

• Find out more about the National Equality Standard
• Find out more about the CIPR's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

• Priscillia Chun, Campaign Director, Diffusion PR
• Sim Devgun, Senior Account Manager, Tin Man
• Myriam Khan, Head of External Communications, UK, Thales Transport
• Arun Lloyd, Associate Director, Hope&Glory
• Mammy Maguire, Head of Student Communications & Social Media, Manchester Metropolitan University
• Lolade Nwanze, Senior Account Manager, Wimbart
• Anita Rathod, Communications & Engagement Lead, Rolls-Royce

Bold and ambitious, The Xec. aims to create the next generation of BME leaders and to increase boardroom diversity client and agency-side.

Launched in March 2021, and now in its third year, The Xec. leadership scheme is a 10-month long course encompassing training days (including with the PRovoke Media team and a special Google Day), masterclasses and ‘My Career’ talks all delivered by a diverse range of industry leaders including award-winning creatives, comms directors and agency owners from organisations including Google UK, The Guardian, Blurred, Diffusion PR, Fanclub PR and Manifest and Hope&Glory PR.

Aside from the masterclasses, talks and training days, The Xec. course participants will have the unique opportunity to curate and present a special PRovoke Media event to be broadcast in June 2024.

The Class of 2024 will:

• Be allocated a BME PR Pros mentor for six months
• Create and host a podcast series
• Be invited to judge a CIPR award
• Receive complimentary CIPR membership for 12 months

Profile interviews with the cohort are available on bmeprpros.co.uk.

Published today, the strategy outlines the CIPR's plans to develop and adapt its activities and champion EDI best practice across six areas; the CIPR staff team, volunteers, the Institue's governance structure, CIPR members, the wider PR profession, and private, public and third sector leadership. The document details how changes will be embedded in these areas and how progress will be monitored in line with the Institute's five-year strategic plan.

The strategy has been developed by the CIPR's EDI Committee following years of research by the Institute highlighting a lack of progression in the PR profession on diversity, with data showing that 9 in 10 UK practitioners are White and 25% are privately educated, around four times higher than the UK national average. The CIPR's 2020 Race in PR report by the Institute's Diversity and Inclusion Network found Black, Asian, or Ethnic Minority practitioners experienced racism, microaggressions, and unconscious biases in the PR industry as well as inflexible working cultures that deny opportunities for fair progression.

• Download the CIPR's new EDI Strategy
• Find out more about the CIPR's journey towards achieving the National Equality Standard
• Find out more about the CIPR's Diversity and Inclusion Network (DIN)
• Download the CIPR's 2020 Race in PR report

The third in a five-part series of guides is designed to improve understanding across the public relations profession of the importance of inclusive communications. It includes best practice on creating, planning, and using inclusive options to achieve this with advice on written communications barriers, using inclusive fonts and design options, and more.

The CIPR’s Diversity and Inclusion Network has published free-to-download guides on EDI Basics and Inclusive Language and will publish the following resources throughout 2023;

• Inclusive Events (September 2023)
• Advocacy and Allyship (December 2023)

The guides have been written by Sara Thornhurst Chart.PR, MCIPR and Vickie Cox MCIPR with input from Avril Lee MCIPR and Cornelius Alexander Dip CIPR, FCIPR, Found. Chart. PR.

• Download the CIPR's Diversity and Inclusion Network series of guides.

Published ahead of Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Thursday 18 May, Inclusive Language - the second in a five-part series of guides - is designed to improve understanding across the public relations profession of the importance of inclusion in the language practitioners use.

The CIPR’s Diversity and Inclusion Network published a guide to EDI Basics in March and will publish the following resources throughout 2023;

• Inclusive Communications (June 2023)
• Inclusive Events (September 2023)
• Advocacy and Allyship (December 2023)

The guides have been written by Sara Thornhurst Chart.PR, MCIPR and Vickie Cox MCIPR with input from Avril Lee MCIPR and Cornelius Alexander Dip CIPR, FCIPR, Found. Chart. PR. 

• Download the first guide - EDI Basics. 
• Each guide is worth five CIPR CPD points. 
• Find out more about the CIPR's Diversity and Inclusion Network.

‘EDI Basics’ – published by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations' (CIPR) Diversity and Inclusion Network - includes definitions of equality, diversity, and inclusion and associated terms, explains how these apply in practice, and outlines ways to create an equitable future within the PR industry.

Readers are encouraged to use this new guide as an onboarding tool for new employees, as a foundation to build inclusive processes and systems, and to ensure their organisation's work aligns with the core values of EDI.

Throughout 2023 the Network will be launching the following resources;

• Inclusive Language (May 2023)
• Inclusive Communications (June 2023)
• Inclusive Events (September 2023)
• Advocacy and Allyship (December 2023)

The guides have been written by Sara Thornhurst Chart.PR, MCIPR and Vickie Cox MCIPR with input from Avril Lee MCIPR and Cornelius Alexander Dip CIPR, FCIPR, Found. Chart. PR. 

• Each guide is worth five CPD points, claim points via out CPD database 
• Find out more about the Diversity and Inclusion Network.  

Hosted by Calhan Behrendt, Outstanding Young Communicator at the 2022 Cymru Wales PRide Awards and Account Manager at OutWrite, this episode delves into the themes of social inclusion and diversity and the impact of technology on their outcomes. Panelists discuss the necessary skills needed to work in the sector, reflect on their own experiences, and highlight the bold strides that have been made by the PR profession.  

Joining host Calhan Behrendt is; 

• Tony Bradley, CEO at publicrelationsconsultancy.com
• Maria Chanmugam, Director at Clevercoms
• Eva Maclaine, Founder at Maclaine Communications

CIPR members can log 5 CPD points for listening to this episode.

The ‘Levelling Up Public Relations’ report - led by Nottingham-based communications consultancy BakerBaird and supported by Sheffield Hallam University – was funded under the CIPR’s Research Fund.

The research presents an in-depth examination of the make-up of the public relations workforce which focuses on the education and background of people in the profession and students hoping to join it. It finds a lack of diversity in public relations not just in terms of social class, ethnicity, gender, disability and age but also geographical location, education and accent. It finds;

• 86% of respondents had a university education
• Nearly a quarter of respondents feel that where they come from has an impact on career progression
• More than half think being too young or too old also limits progress
• A majority were unaware of public relations as a career until they were either at university or already working
• There is a shortfall of around 13,500 people from wider socio-economic groups (over 10% of the entire workforce)
• The majority of PR students think that they will have to move to a large city to find meaningful work

The report includes a number of recommendations as to how the industry can address this lack of diversity. 

Visit the CIPR's website to find out more about the Research Fund and to apply for a grant to conduct research. The deadline for the 2023 Fund is February 24.

The twelve bodies have come together to identify where professional and regulatory organisations can collectively make the most impact to increase recruitment, progression and retention of under-represented groups. By exploring the standards and experiences across these sectors, the research will help identify barriers to progression across the professions and identify steps that can be taken individually or collectively to address these over the coming years. The group will use this research to share resources around ED&I and commission new work and research to ensure our professions are as inclusive as possible.

How to complete the survey

A link to the survey was emailed to all CIPR members yesterday (Tuesday 25 October). If you are a CIPR member that would like to complete the survey and has not received this email please contact CIPR's PR and Policy Officer, Liam Taylor.

The Chartered Bodies Collaborative includes:

• ACCA, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
• CII, Chartered Insurance Institute
• CILEx Regulation, legal regulator of individuals, entities and licensed bodies
• CIPD, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• CIPFA, Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
• CIPR, Chartered Institute of Public Relations
• CIPS, Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply
• CMI, Chartered Management Institute
• ICAS, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland
• IET, Institution of Engineering and Technology
• IOSH, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
• IWFM, Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

The survey takes around 15 minutes to complete. The delivery of this research has been contracted to The Young Foundation, an independent research agency. For more information about this work please visit this page online.

The leadership scheme, the first for UK-based Black, Asian, Mixed Race and Ethnic Minority (BME) PR and comms pros, aims to create the next generation of BME leaders and to increase boardroom diversity client and agency-side.

The practical 10-month long course encompasses training days, masterclasses and ‘My Career’ talks delivered by a diverse range of industry leaders including award-winning creatives, comms directors and agency owners from organisations including Google UK, The Guardian, Blurred, Twitter, Diffusion PR, Fanclub PR, Riot Communications and Manifest. The Xec., running from September 2022 to June 2023, is worth 40 CIPR CPD points.

Furthermore, The Xec. Class of 2023 will:

• Be allocated a BME PR Pros mentor for six months
• Create and host a podcast series
• Be invited to judge a CIPR award
• Receive complimentary CIPR membership
• Be given £5,000 to create and launch a group campaign

The Xec. leadership scheme runs from September 2021 to June 2022, is free and there are twelve places available. Deadline for applications is 23:59 on Thursday 5 May 2022.

For terms and to request an application pack visit: bmeprpros.co.uk/the-xec

The scheme pairs senior leaders with Black, Asian and ethnic minority PR and communications professionals to share insights into what it is like to be a minority in the industry, to understand the challenges that are presented, to showcase the importance of allyship and inclusive cultures, and to encourage new ways of thinking in how their organisations approach all aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion.

The CIPR’s Race in PR report, issued last year, found that many PR professionals from ethnic communities face significant barriers to inclusion and career progression with research from PR Week showing that one in five UK PR agencies having no non-white employees at all.

The first participants in the scheme are:

Mentors

• Frances Abebreseh, Communications Manager, Netflix
• Ashwinder Bedi, Campaign Manager, Babel PR
• Tom Hunt, Senior Associate, Purpose Union
• Melissa Jumbo, Communications Lead, Mouro Capital
• Deepak Kumar, Press Officer, TfL
• Kuldeep Mehmi, PR Manager, Savills
• Hannah Mensah-Kane, Account Manager, Nexus Communications
• Shanil Nayee, Senior Account Manager, Harvard PR
• Emmanuel Ofosu-Appiah, UK PR Manager, Mercer
• Esther Oluga, Regional Communications Manager, Home Office
• Tariq Peters, Senior Account Executive, Four Communications
• Ata Rahman, Digital Content Office, Imperial College London
• Nahidur Rahman, Senior Manager, DWF Group
• Ester Russom, Press Officer, Euronext
• Christine Tama, Communications and PR Freelance

Mentees

• Matt Appleby, Independent Strategic Communications Consultant
• Shaun Bell, Group Account Director, Stripe Communications
• Juliet Cameron, COO, Launch
• Tim Chatwin, VP Communications and Public Affairs, Google EMEA
• Tom Frackowiak, Managing Director, Cicero
• Daniel Gerrella, Associate Director, Liz Male Consulting
• Susie Hackett, International Head of Corporate Communications
• Susan Kinnear, Director, Centre of Journalism & Public Communication, Cardiff University
• Molly Neal, Director of Communications, Brand & Campaigns, National Grid
• Jo Patterson, CEO, 3 Monkeys Zeno
• Sarah Pinch, Managing Director, Pinchpoint Communications
• Brad Ryan, Senior PR Lead, ARUP
• Kate Smith, Practice Director, Brands2Life
• Vicki Spencer-Francis, Managing Director, Cowshed
• Ben Verinder, Founder and Managing Director, Chalk Street Communications

Reverse mentoring turns the traditional format on its head. In this case, the scheme is matching 15 senior leaders from a white background mentored by PR professionals with 3-10 years experience from an ethnically diverse background.

Mentees were invited to join the scheme and reflect a broad range of agencies, in-house and independent consultants working in a variety of sectors.

The scheme officially is due to complete in June 2022 with the CIPR and Taylor Bennett Foundation committed to taking and sharing learnings from the pilot scheme to inform future initiatives and training in this area.

The leadership scheme for UK-based Black, Asian, Mixed Race and Ethnic Minority (BME) PR and comms pros is the first of its kind. The CIPR partnership, announced earlier in the year, includes membership for the candidates and the opportunity to judge a CIPR award.

The ten candidates, who secured a place following a rigorous application and interview process, are:

• Maria Adediran, Account Director, Wimbart
• Kemi Bamgbose, Communications Manager (Thy Kingdom Come prayer movement), Lambeth Palace
• Sebrina Kepple, International PR Manager, McAfee
• Kenon Man, Deputy Director of Marketing, University of Nottingham
• Anaïs Merlin, Account Director & Deputy Head of Mobile & Telecoms, CCgroup
• Maxine Myers, Communications Manager, Imperial College London
• Ben Roberts, Director, Harvard
• Sanjani Shah, Global Head of PR, The Body Shop
• Whitney Simon, Senior Account Manager, Gallium Ventures
• Scarlett Zhao, PR Manager, International Corporate Communications, Alibaba Group

The Xec. Leadership scheme, developed by BME PR Pros in consultation with The Blueprint advisory board, aims to create the next generation of BME leaders and to increase boardroom diversity client and agency-side.

Launched in March 2021, the Xec. leadership scheme is a 10-month long course encompassing 14 training days, 14 masterclasses and 10 ‘My Career’ talks all delivered by a diverse range of industry leaders including award-winning creatives, comms directors and agency owners from organisations including Google UK, The Guardian, Ketchum, Blurred, Twitter, Diffusion PR, Fanclub PR and Manifest. The Xec., running from September 2021 to June 2022, is worth 55 CIPR CPD points.

Aside from the masterclasses, talks and training days, The Xec. course participants will have the unique opportunity to curate and present a special PRovoke Media event to be broadcast in June 2022.

The Class of 2022 will:

• Be allocated a BME PR Pros mentor for six months
• Create and host a podcast series
• Be invited to judge a CIPR award
• Receive complimentary CIPR membership
• Be given £5,000 to create and launch a group campaign

The cohort will be mentored by industry powerhouses: Daljit Bhurji (CEO & Co-Founder, Diffusion); Preena Gadher (Co-Founder & Managing Director, Riot Communications); Jessica Hope (Founder & CEO, Wimbart); Claire Johnson-Tusinska (Regional Leader, Strategic Solutions Communication & Public Affairs EMEA, Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices); Adrian Ma (Founder & Managing Director, Fanclub PR); Doyel Maitra (Group Communications Director & Board Member, Hachette UK); Claire Quansah (Head of Client & Business Development, Social); Alicia Solanki (Managing Director Client Experience, Ketchum UK) Chinedu Udezue (Senior Strategy Consultant) and Anisha Vikram Shah (Consulting Director, Blurred).

• Profile interviews with the cohort are available on bmeprpros.co.uk.
• Headshots by John Ferguson.

The partnership includes 50 free CIPR student memberships - which provides access to the CIPR Student Mentoring Scheme - to those on Media Trust's 'Creativity Works' training programme and Emerging Leaders Network. The CIPR has also committed to sharing expert advice and information in the form of resources and speakers to support the charity's existing workshops and training, and promoting their Volunteer Platform which provides charitable organisations with a platform to request help from expert media and creative professionals.

CIPR's State of the Profession report in 2019 found more than a quarter of those (28%) working in public relations attended a fee-paying school - four times higher than the national UK average (7%). It also reported that privately educated PR Professionals secure more senior roles and earn an average of £13,000 more per year than state-educated colleagues.

Our most recent survey found only one in ten PR professionals come from a BAME background.

The event follows the publications of CIPR's 'Race in PR' report - highlighting an industry in which BAME practitioners are too often unable to access the same opportunities as white colleagues and treated unfairly or inappropriately. It will cover practical advice for businesses and individuals to address the lack of diversity in their workplaces as well as how to get the best out of the diverse talent that exists within the industry.

Speaking at the online event are:

Elizabeth Bananuka - a comms consultant and the founder of BME PR Pros which she describes as ‘one person’s little attempt to promote diversity in the PR and comms sector’. She develops and manages every aspect of the initiative in her spare time including the popular BME PR Pros / PRWeek Mentoring Scheme, the website and the social media channels.

She will be discussing - The Blueprint - a new initiative designed to help organisations attract, retain and nurture diverse talent.

Alex Louis - a specialist in managing communications, marketing and PR teams in local government, education, criminal justice and the NHS. She is trained as a radio journalist and ran a small PR consultancy specialising in housing and voluntary sector.

She will be discussing efforts to address diversity and inclusion challenges in the public sector.

Julian Obubo - Brand Strategy Director at Manifest, a brand communications agency with offices in London, Manchester, Stockholm and New York where he also heads up the diversity and inclusion programme. He was in the 2017 cohort of PR Week's 30 Under 30 and also hosts Manifest’s industry podcast Fresh Meet.

He will be discussing Manifest's efforts to be the first agency to be awarded The Blueprint mark.

The event will be Chaired by Avril Lee MCIPR, Chair of the CIPR’s Diversity and Inclusion Network and Health MD at Red Consultancy and is free to attend, however any donation to the Taylor Bennet Foundation would be greatly received. The Taylor Bennet Foundation is a charity that exists to encourage BAME graduates to pursue a career in communications. You can donate to them here.

Register for the event here.

The event is worth 5 CPD points.

The 'On Point Training' programme includes the following workshops which CIPR members can claim a 15% discount on (details below):

• Are we over the rainbow? - a review of pride comms. Thursday July 2, 15.00-16.15. Dev Mistry, Internal Communications Executive, Virgin Media
• From ableism to activism - how to nourish disabled PR talent in your agency. Thursday 16 Jule, 15.00-16.15. Sara Hawthorn, Managing Director, InFusion Comms
• How to do blind recruitment right - Thursday September 10, 15.00-16.15. Paul Cockerton, Chief Product Officer, and Peter Bowles, Chief Creative Officer, Clarity
• Muslims: the audience brands can't afford to ignore – Thursday September 24, 15.00-16.15. Arif Miah, Creative Strategy Director, & Ala Uddin, Executive Creative Director, mud orange
• How to set up a Black network at work –Thursday October 8, 15.00-16.15. Tobi Ruth Adebekun, International Communications Manager / and SnapNoir Europe Lead, Snap Inc.
• Black History Month UK comms: the good, the bad and the ugly. A review - Thursday October 29, 15.00-16.15. Esther Akinola, Social Media Consultant; Kristian Hoareau Foged, Insights & Analytics Consultant Independent Consultant and Julian Obubo, Brand Strategy Director, Manifest
• How to nurture young talent - Thursday November 12, 15.00-16.15. Claire Quansah, Operations Director, Red Havas UK

CIPR members will be able to use an exclusive code for a 15% discount which they can find in the weekly member email sent on Wednesdays. If you are unable to find the code please email CIPR's PR and Policy Manager, Jon Gerlis, with your membership number.

About The Blueprint

The Blueprint is a new initiative designed to help talented Black, Asian, Mixed Race and Ethnic Minority professionals get the careers they deserve, and to help organisations genuinely committed to diversity to benefit from their talent. It does this through awarding Blueprint or Ally status in which organisations sign up to a series of commitments aimed at removing inequality and barriers to progression. Find out more here.

To find out more about their 'On the Point' training workshops, click here.

The report - ‘Race in PR: BAME lived experiences in the UK PR industry’ (below) - is calling on senior PR business leaders to take these findings seriously and work to change practices and cultures to “unleash talent and create a fair and equal workplace for all”.  

The research follows the career journey of 17 BAME practitioners and highlights a worrying set of common experiences; a profession in which BAME practitioners speak of being afraid to make mistakes, of being unable to be their true selves, of having to work harder for fewer opportunities and of the racism they experience. They speak of being judged to a different standard to their white colleagues and of a lack of support when they speak up; ultimately making individuals question their ability to sustain a career in PR.

Data from CIPR’s State of the Profession reports over the last few years shows a profession that is becoming less diverse despite many in the industry apparently supportive of a more diverse PR workforce. This report goes some way to explaining why retention of BAME professionals is such a challenge for PR, with many practitioners choosing to leave the profession or become independent or freelance practitioners. 

• The CIPR has also published a supporting Q&A to go alongside the report, detailing the CIPR’s work in this area and how the Institute intends to progress its diversity and inclusion work (download here). 

Relaunch of CIPR’s Diversity and Inclusion Network 

Publication of the report coincides with the relaunch of CIPR’s Diversity and Inclusion Network. The existing volunteer team working on diversity and inclusion is to become a member-wide group enabling members from across the CIPR community to become more actively involved in D&I matters, network, and work together to make a difference. The Network will soon be surveying members on the future direction of its work.

• If you are interested in joining the committee and are able to commit the time to realising the aims of the group, please email CIPR’s PR and Policy Manager, Jon Gerlis, with a brief summary as to why you are interested in the position. 

The Blueprint Commitments  

The report includes details of The Blueprint - a brand new programme launched today by BME PR Pros and welcomed by the CIPR. The Blueprint is a practical and targeted scheme, initially for agencies, which offers communications leaders a pathway to improve their BAME diversity and rewards best practice with a Blueprint mark of quality through meeting a series of commitments.  

The report also details the work of BAME2020’s ‘No Turning Back’ programme and the Taylor Bennett Foundation. 

• Read the report below or download the report and Q&A from our website.

The report, whilst highlighting concerns with "familiar and traditional recruitment processes", calls on businesses to refuse to accept "the headhunters' excuse that 'the candidates just aren't there'". Instead it recommends businesses support existing staff through regular reporting on the ethnic diversity of their boards, on policies and activities to increase board diversity and on developing ethnic minority leaders and senior managers.​

These findings support research CIPR will soon publish into lived experiences of BAME practitioners in public relations. The research - due in March - finds that the main challenge in addressing the lack of diversity in the profession is not in attracting diverse talent, but in retaining that talent.

The Parker Report does point to progress being made. In 2017, when it was fist published, 51 of the FTSE 100 companies had no ethnic representation on their boards. Today that figure has fallen to 33%.

Our 2019 State of the Profession report highlights a fall in diversity within public relations: 

• More than nine in ten practitioners (92%) classify themselves as white – compared to 88% in 2018 and 90% in 2017.
• More than a quarter (28%) of respondents said they had attended a fee-paying school. This is four times higher than the national UK average of 7% and a significant rise on the 16% figure reported in the 2015/16 State of the Profession report.

Download CIPR's guide - 'Recruiting for Public Relations Roles' from this page for best practice regarding the recruitment process.