Staff at Jewish PR firm in tears as it folds with £300k of debt
EMPLOYEES OF one of the bestknown PR firms in the Jewish community were left crying in their office when director Shimon Cohen liquidated the company after it racked up more than £300,000 of debt.
Around a dozen staff at The PR Office say they struck by “disbelief” when Cohen emailed them on 3 April to tell them they had lost their jobs and the company was closing down immediately. The company has worked with clients including the Conference of European Rabbis, the United Synagogue, the Holocaust Educational Trust and Aish UK, while Cohen previously served as the executive director of the office of the then chief rabbi Lord Jakobovits.
Cohen’s laid-off employees, including a mother on maternity leave, are now attempting to claim money covering their notice period from the firm managing the liquidation. Announcing the creation of a new company this week on LinkedIn, Cohen insisted that he “did not want to be bothered with admin and management protocols” and so was launching a fresh venture that would give him “some pleasant space and a more calming setting to do what I love”.
His “beloved PR Office” had grown too large and faced financial issues so had to be shut down, he continued, but his thoughts were with his “dedicated employees” from whom he had learned much, he said.
Speaking to the JC, a former senior employee said: “Everyone is so angry with him because he’s shown no contrition for what he’s done.
“To do it by email, to not be a mensch and come in and tell the employees face to face is terrible.
“It was really heartbreaking for all the people involved. They were all in disbelief, they liked him, they thought he had their interests at heart.
“They believed when he said he cared about his staff. People understand you can have hard times, but to do it by email is stunning.”
In his email to staff, Cohen wrote: “[The news will] no doubt come as a huge shock to you and I so wish it could have been avoided… I have tried everything to avoid this, and I ensured that you all got paid at the end of March. But from now a winding-up process begins.
“You will hear directly from the proposed liquidator, and you may have a claim for unpaid wages, notice, holiday pay and redundancy. All of these claims are processed through the RPO (Redundancy Payments Office).
“I am very sorry that it has come to this. You are all wonderful people and I am sorry that you have been let down.”
The PR Office had to close, he claimed, because it was no longer billing enough. One laid-off employee speaking on behalf of their colleagues said they were totally unaware the business was in trouble.
According to industry publication PRWeek, in 2022 The PR Office’s UK revenue stood at £2.7 million.
The company, which Cohen founded in 2004 after leaving industry giant Bell Pottinger, has worked with a number of clients across the Jewish community over the years.
Cohen told the JC he was not present when employees received the email informing them of the news as he did not go into the office on a regular basis.
“When you make a significant change not everybody is affected positively… People can say what they want to say, but at some point one has to put oneself first.
“That’s life, that’s business,” he said. Accounts seen by the JC show the business was liquidated with total debts of £371,626. This includes more than £300,000 owed to HMRC and over £70,000 owed to employees.
Writing on social media, Cohen said he was moving on to lead Roath PR, a new firm named after a park near which he grew up in Cardiff.
While Cohen told PRWeek that he hopes to hire PR Office staff at Roath PR, the JC understands that just one employee has accepted an invitation to continue working for him.
Cohen, who said his salary had not increased since he set up The PR Office, said he wanted to focus on advising clients and he did not wish to manage multiple staff members: “I want to spend my time being a client man interacting with my clients. Without all the headache of running and owning and employing.” He added: “When you make a change like this it’s never easy for anybody.
“Of course I’m sad, but I did it the best way I could. I paid people up to the last moment. I did what I felt was correct and honourable and profitable.
“I had to make a change for my benefit, for my family’s benefit, and for my clients I want to work with.”
To not be a mensch and tell employees in person is terrible