What a new PM and cabinet mean for charity comms teams
Right, quick disclaimer before we go any further: I'm not a policy person. If your charity has a dedicated public affairs or policy team, they will do this infinitely better than me, and honestly, just send them this as a "hey, have we thought about this" nudge and move on with your day.
But a lot of charities I work with don't have that luxury. It's one person (probably you) juggling comms, social, maybe fundraising support, and now apparently public affairs too, because who else is going to do it. So this is me, as a comms person, telling you what I'd actually be doing right now with Andy Burnham newly in No.10 (North!) and a reshuffled cabinet still finding their desks.
Because here's the thing: recess ends 1 September. MPs come back, diaries fill up within about a week, and every charity in the country suddenly remembers they meant to do something about this. I'd rather you weren't in that scramble.
Why bother right now
New ministers need to learn their brief fast, which means (genuinely) they're more open to hearing from people in those first few months than almost any other point in the parliament. An ask that went nowhere with the last person in that seat might land completely differently now. Nobody tells you that bit, but it's true.
If you leave this until October, you're doing it at exactly the same time as every other charity in your sector. Not ideal.
Get your ask down to one sentence
I say this to clients constantly and it applies here too: if you can't say what you want in one sentence, it's not ready yet.
"Raising awareness of our cause" isn't an ask, it's a vibe. "We want the Department for X to commit to Y by Z" is an ask. Spend some proper time on this before you send anything to anyone. It's worth doing slowly.
Check who you're actually talking to
Reshuffles mean your contacts list is probably out of date. Before you write a single email:
Find out who now holds the ministerial brief that matters to you
Don't ignore your local MP either, whatever their party - constituency relationships often move faster than anything in Whitehall
If your old contact has moved roles, don't assume the relationship carries over automatically. Start fresh, properly
Dust off (don't rewrite from scratch) whatever you already have
If there's a position paper, an "asks" doc, an old briefing sitting in a folder somewhere, that's your starting point. Update the numbers, tidy the language, make sure it still sounds like where your charity is now rather than where it was two years ago. Don't reinvent this in a panic come September.
Timing, because it matters here
Now, while recess is still on: get things ready, don't send them. Most offices are quiet and won't engage properly yet
Early-to-mid September: your actual window, before committee work and constituency casework eat every diary
If you've got something tied to a specific date (a debate, an inquiry, an awareness day), work backwards from that now
The bit everyone skips
You don't have to lead with an ask. Think of it a bit like a supporter journey - you wouldn't email a brand new donor asking for a gift before you've told them who you are. Same principle here.
Some of the best public affairs work is just turning up first with no agenda, introducing yourself, explaining what you do, no request attached. It means when you do eventually need something, you're not a stranger in someone's inbox.
A new PM and reshuffled cabinet doesn't happen often, and most charities either ignore it completely or panic about it in September alongside everyone else. Neither gets you very far. A bit of groundwork now, while you've actually still got the headspace for it, puts you ahead of both.
If you want a hand sharpening your ask into something you'd actually be proud to send, get in touch - this is exactly the kind of thing I can help with.
