Public affairs and communications management

“Westminster Advisers closely matched and focussed on their key objectives and devised an excellent, effective strategy that created a compelling case that couldn't be overlooked.”
Iain McMath, Managing Director, Sodexo Motivation Solutions

Our clients and the issue they faced:

Westminster Advisers worked with the four largest providers of childcare vouchers ??? Edenred (then Accor Services), Computershare Voucher Services, Grass Roots Group and Sodexo Motivation Solutions to save childcare vouchers.

In September 2009, during his Party conference speech, Gordon Brown announced that he would remove the tax exemptions that underpin the childcare voucher scheme. The announcement was not anticipated by the childcare voucher providers and caused widespread concern over the future of the industry.

Our objectives:

The key objective was to reverse the Government's position before the General Election and stop the removal of the childcare vouchers tax relief.

The campaign highlighted the negative impact the government's decision would have on the household incomes of hardworking families, employers' ability to support their employees and the childcare sector.

Westminster Advisers developed an integrated public affairs campaign to generate political, media and stakeholder pressure to demonstrate to Government that the tax exemption should not be removed.

What we did:

• Built a large coalition of support from stakeholder groups (such as working mothers, lower rate taxpayers, childcare providers and small businesses) and the policy & campaigning community (including groups such as Working Families, National Day Nurseries Association, National Childbirth Trust, Daycare Trust and the Federation of Small Businesses).
• Rapid briefing of Conservative Shadow Ministers led to public criticism of the decision and elicited a commitment not to implement the decision if elected to government.
• Developed a web, email and social media campaign to develop grassroots opposition to the decision. The social media campaign encouraged people to contact their local MPs to register their concern. This, in turn, raised awareness within Parliament and led to MPs raising the issue directly with Ministers.
• Sent geographically specific policy briefings to Prospective Parliamentary Candidates which referenced local interests. This turned the campaign into an 'issue on the doorstep' ensuring it became recognised as a key concern of voters in marginal constituencies.
• With nine ex-ministers signing an open letter calling on the government to reverse its position, WA worked with national broadcast and print journalists who were covering the 'rebellion' of normally loyal Labour MPs. This generated coverage in a number of major newspapers, including the Guardian, Daily Mail, Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Times and Evening Standard as well as across the BBC.

Results:

The campaign resulted in a huge shift in Government policy with the Labour leadership reversing its decision on the 3rd December 2009, effectively performing a 'U-turn' within the space of three months.

Approximately 94,000 people signed a Number 10 e-petition asking the Government to reconsider its position whilst an Early Day Motion submitted to Parliament attracted the signatures of 88 MPs.

The campaign also generated a substantial level of both print and broadcast media coverage helping to generate a mass of grass roots opinion which opposed the Government's decision.