Association to examine conduct of collapsed creative agency

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) is examining the reasons why Bromsgrove-based creative agency Superdream, suddenly went into administration earlier this month.

TheBusinessDesk.com broke the news last week of how the 23 “shocked” Superdream staff turned up for work at their offices in The Courtyard, Buntsford Drive on Friday 5 July and were asked to remove their belongings and leave the building.

They then received a letter in the post over the weekend to notify them that their contract of employment had ended as of 5 July with payment arrears and holiday will to be paid by Industrial Service.

Since then Superdream founder, Jason Manning, has not been contactable and staff have had to file claims with HMRC to recover monies owed. Property Week reported yesterday that the company had debts of £900,000.

Staff are now being assisted by the PRCA, which is giving them free membership and also conducting its own investigations into the circumstances of the collapse of Superdream, which was a member of the association.

“It is a source of deep regret whenever any PR agency folds, but it is of course desperately bad personal news for its employees,” Francis Ingham MPRCA, Director General, PRCA.

“We are now offering all of its former employees free individual PRCA membership for the next 12 months.

“In this way, they will be able to attend PRCA events, and use PRCA resources, to help them find new roles as quickly as possible.

“I have also instructed our Professional Practices Committee to examine the manner in which the company closed to see if the actions of its senior management met the standards of conduct expected of PRCA members.”

A process of liquidation of Superdream’s assets was set to be begin on Wednesday.