Incomms

The Pension Protection Fund has appointed Lucy Hopkins as its new director of corporate affairs. Hopkins is the former head of comms at Publicis Media UK, a division of ‘Big three’ advertising and comms network Publicis Groupe. She started at the PPF in late September and reports to its chief strategy and communications officer Conor Lawlor.

Five times redundancy comms went wrong Redundancy announcements are never good news, but if they are done badly they can make matters a whole lot worse.

Kemi Badenoch declared war on her political opponents, in her keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference this week, claiming “there is a fight coming in British politics” and “a battle for the soul of this nation”. With the Conservatives reeling from the landslide defeat that saw them ousted from government at the last general election, and languishing behind Labour and Reform UK in the polls, Badenoch was under scrutiny.

Asos hacked: Crisis comms experts criticise statement delay Retailer became the latest target of a security hack earlier this week and its first public statement followed five hours after the attack.

Gemmaine Walsh, former director general for government communications transformation, has been appointed interim director general and head of Government Communications, succeeding David Dinsmore who stepped down as permanent secretary, director of communication at the Cabinet Office in August. Government Communications oversees communications professionals across the UK Civil Service, and Walsh will be responsible for leading the professional body while continuing to drive its transformation.

McCann hires UK comms and PR director Omnicom ad agency creates new UK comms role. ✓ Access limited free articles each month ✓ Email bulletins – top industry news and insights delivered straight to your inbox ✓ Unlimited access to all In.Comms content ✓ Real-world campaign case studies and career insights from in-house comms pros ✓ Exclusive reports, industry news, and annual features like Best In-House Campaigns and Communicator of the Year

How do you maintain brand trust in an age of misinformation? In turbulent times many brands hope that their reputation will guide them through any issues.

Workman has recruited Adriana Neves, former head of internal communications at City & Guilds, as its first internal communications manager. Announcing the appointment last week (29 September), the company said Neves would help “strengthen” connections across the firm. She will report to Nick Hilton, partner in Workman’s property management team and lead on the firm’s “Workmanship” stream – a value which was created as part of the firm’s 2025 rebrand.

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water has appointed Gareth Morgan as its new corporate communications manager. He previously held communications and media relations roles at BT Group and Universities UK. Prior to that, he worked at the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. After seven years at BT Group as external communications manager, Morgan left the business last year and took a year out following paternity leave.

Are internal social media networks worth having? Internal, work-based social networks, also known as enterprise social networks, can be powerful for building community among colleagues. Internal comms experts advise on how to make the most of them.