The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) is a trade association for the

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

sector in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The association lobbies on behalf of its member companies and also provides a forum for sharing information. It is the largest PR association in Europe, with more than 12,000 members including agencies, in-house communications teams and individual media professionals. The PRCA aims to raise standards in the PR and communications industry by sharing industry data, information, and best practices, as well as creating networking opportunities.

History

It was founded in 1969 (as the Public Relations Consultants Association), and was originally an organisation for PR agencies; its membership includes 400 agency members, including most of the top 100 UK consultancies; over 100 in-house communications teams from multinationals, UK charities and public sector organisations. The PRCA launched in-house membership in February 2009 and individual membership in October 2011. In 2001, the PRCA sought a meeting with the

Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...

to develop a code of practice for financial PR consultants. The PRCA was one of three organisations which founded the UK lobbying self-regulation body, the

UK Public Affairs Council The UK Public Affairs Council (UKPAC) was a United Kingdom organisation enabling self-regulation of individuals engaged in UK lobbying activities. The UKPAC was established in 2010 by the Association of Professional Political Consultants, the P ...

, in 2010 - alongside the

Association of Professional Political Consultants The Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) is a United Kingdom organisation, established in 1994, that is the self-regulatory body that represents firms engaged in lobbying activities. APPC membership is open to public affairs fir ...

and the

Chartered Institute of Public Relations The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is a professional body in the United Kingdom for public relations practitioners. Founded as the Institute for Public Relations in 1948, CIPR was awarded Chartered status by the Privy Council o ...

. However, the PRCA resigned from the UKPAC the following year, in December 2011. It changed its name to the Public Relations and Communications Association in August 2016. The PRCA expelled

Bell Pottinger Bell Pottinger Private (legally BPP Communications Ltd.) was a British multinational public relations, reputation management and marketing company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. On 12 September 2017 it went into administration (bankr ...

in September 2017 after a disciplinary hearing found that a secret campaign by the company to spread racial hatred in South Africa was the worst-ever breach of ethics by a member company. Francis Ingham, the PRCA's director-general, said: "the PRCA has never before passed down such a damning indictment of an agency’s behaviour," and condemning the campaign, which incited racial hatred, as "absolutely unthinkable".

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* Public relations in the United Kingdom Trade associations based in the United Kingdom Professional associations based in the United Kingdom 1969 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1969 Companies based in San Francisco {{UK-org-stub

History

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