About Communications
The UK Commission for Employment and Skills needs to establish a strong and positive corporate reputation so as to achieve maximum influence with stakeholders. This reputation should be rooted in our good work rather than be merely asserted.
The Work Programme in our annual Business Plan (currently 2009-2010) contains around 40 projects and activities arising from the UK Commission’s advisory role and executive functions. Some have communications needs during implementation, such as mass mailings for the Employability project or consultation events for our Five Year Strategic Plan. Almost all will require promotional communications at their completion, whether to select audiences of key stakeholders or occasionally to mass audiences.
Project Focus
In terms of focus, projects identified in the current year, include:
All UK Commission projects and activities requiring communications support receive it. See the Business Plan for more details.
Some of our communications work for the UK Commission is on 'soft projects'. We define these as where the objectives are broadly stated and the resources needed are not fully known and are flexible, with the scope left intentionally open and deadlines not always defined precisely at the outset. Project by project, therefore, our proposed strategy for living with such uncertainty is to create an 'account manager' approach. Our account manager creates a brief from discussions with the project owners. This brief is addressed by the different disciplines within the Communications Directorate. A project communications plan is drawn up against a template. The plan is agreed with the project owners. Implementation then proceeds.
The UK Commission's annual Communications Plan remains relatively opportunistic and flexible in itself because that is the way it can respond to the UK Commission's fast-moving agenda. However, we seek to ensure co-ordinated delivery, recognising that constraints in terms of budget, human resources and calendar opportunities require firm communications plans as early as possible.
Jerry Lloyd – Director of Communications
Jerry has 20 years experience as a communications director in major organisations.
After five years as an English teacher, Jerry moved into campaigning for Oxfam in the mid-80s on debt, aid and trade, helping to develop mass public support behind these issues, amongst others, during 'the Live Aid years'.
Having set up the RSPCA's parliamentary activities, he then led its campaigns and fund-raising so that the RSPCA became the UK's most well-known voluntary organisation. Activities included launching and developing the Freedom Food welfare-based labelling scheme; running numerous, often controversial, campaigns on front page topics such as the live transport of food animals, dog registration and micro-chipping, and the protection of wild mammals; as well as creating a strong media presence topped off by 'Animal Hospital', which gained huge audiences and ran for many series.
At CITB - ConstructionSkills, Jerry completely re-organised communications and marketing before introducing campaigns such as on 'the positive image of the industry', which met with strong approval from young people and from construction employers, and, for example, on health and safety, for which the IPA/Marketing Week 'Campaign of the Year' award was added to many previous communications and marketing industry awards.
Prior to becoming the UK Commission's Communications Director, Jerry helped launch and create a profile for the Sector Skills Councils movement as well as promoting the work of the Sector Skills Development Agency.
He is a fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing and of the Royal Society of Arts; is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations; and lives largely on the train between South Yorkshire and London.