The Communications Management standard (CMS) is the only accreditation developed by the PR and Communication sector.  It is a unique accreditation. 

Developed by and for PRCA corporate members it is a sign to your stakeholders and your team that you carry out the best ethical and effective practice in communications and PR.

For in house teams the assessment covers nine areas

• Leadership and Communication
• Business Planning
• Budgetary Management  
• Project Management in Communications
• Monitoring Satisfaction
• People Management (if applicable)
• Diversity (if applicable)

Within each area the process explores best practice and prompts the team to review essential business and governance practice. For example, in Project management we explore links between the communications strategy and corporate strategy. In monitoring satisfaction, we look at proof that your stakeholders are content with your service. It is a thorough process, but completed with support, fully remote and online, with an assessment at the end lasting no more than 2.5 hours.

Feedback from CMS in house teams has identified that it is a great team building process and facilitates the leadership to review team performance in a structured way.

A variety of organisations have completed in house CMS from international high street brands to an NHS Trust, a local authority and a global law firm.

CMS also demonstrates to funders and board members in organisations that their in house communication team has been independently assessed as excellent by the industry’s own membership body.  

In house teams with more than one member of staff are provided with the CMS framework.  They can avail of the support of the Assessor in going through the CMS framework and self audit process.

The full assessment and certification process is subject to an additional charge depending on the size of the communications team (from £250.)