How to Change PR Agencies: Handover Checklist and Timeline

To change PR agencies, read your current contract's notice and termination terms, set a transition date, list every account and file the agency holds, collect media lists and unfinished work, settle open invoices and keep coverage running through the handover. Use the checklist in this guide to assign an owner, a deadline and a status to each item. Nothing should sit only in the outgoing agency's systems after your last day.

Who should use this guide to change PR agencies?

This guide is for communications and marketing leads who have decided, or are close to deciding, to move from one PR agency to another or to bring the work in-house. It does not help you decide whether to leave.

For that decision, read how to run a PR agency review. To choose the next agency, use the 90-day hiring playbook and how to evaluate PR agency proposals.

What should you establish before you give notice?

Establish what your contract says about term, notice and ownership before you tell the agency anything, because those terms set your last day and what you can take with you. The table shows the question to settle for each situation and why it matters.

Situation	What to establish first	Why it matters
The contract has a fixed term	The end date and any early exit terms	It decides whether you wait, negotiate or pay out
The contract is rolling or month to month	The notice period, in writing	It sets your last day of fees
You do not hold a copy of the contract	A copy from your legal or finance team	Every other decision depends on it
The agency holds logins or admin rights	A list of every account and who is the administrator	Access is the item teams forget most easily
Work is in flight, such as pitches, events or launches	Which items finish with the outgoing agency	It protects media relationships that are mid-conversation

What are the steps to change PR agencies?

Follow the steps below in order, and choose the successor or the in-house plan before you give notice so coverage does not lapse.

1. Read the contract and note the notice, renewal, termination, ownership and confidentiality clauses.
2. List everything the agency holds for you: accounts, files, media lists, reports, creative, vendor relationships and in-flight work.
3. Confirm the successor or the in-house plan.
4. Set the transition window, and overlap the outgoing and incoming teams if the contract allows it.
5. Send notice in the form the contract requires, to the named address, and record the date.
6. Run the handover checklist below.
7. Settle the final invoices and expenses, and request a final statement.
8. Remove access for people who should no longer have it.
9. Hold a short debrief with the outgoing agency if it helps the new team.

What does the handover checklist look like?

The handover checklist assigns every transition item an owner, a deadline and a status. Deadlines count back from your last day with the outgoing agency, called T. The timing is a suggestion for you to adjust to your contract, not an industry norm.

Item	Owner	Suggested deadline	Status
Written notice sent as the contract requires	Client communications lead	As the contract states	Not started
Inventory of social, newsroom, analytics, monitoring and wire accounts	Client and agency	14 days before T	Not started
Administrator access moved to the client	Agency	7 days before T	Not started
Media lists and contact notes exported	Agency	7 days before T	Not started
Press materials, boilerplate, bios, photos and approved messaging	Agency	7 days before T	Not started
Reports, coverage logs and measurement data	Agency	7 days before T	Not started
Open pitches and embargoes: status and handoff plan	Agency and incoming team	7 days before T	Not started
Scheduled events and bookings: who holds each contract	Agency	14 days before T	Not started
Vendor and freelancer relationships	Agency	7 days before T	Not started
Unfinished drafts and approvals	Client communications lead	3 days before T	Not started
Introductions to key journalists, where the relationships allow	Agency and incoming team	7 days before T	Not started
Access removed for the outgoing team	Client IT	On T	Not started
Final invoice and expense statement	Agency and client finance	14 days after T	Not started

Which documents and information should you gather?

Gather the current contract and any amendments, the notice requirements and early exit terms, and a list of every account, tool and subscription the agency manages. Add the active campaign calendar with any embargoed material, plus the open invoices and approved expenses.

What can go wrong during a PR agency transition?

Three situations cause most of the avoidable trouble, but this guide has no outcome data on how often transitions fail, so treat them as checks and not as rankings. Accounts registered under agency email addresses can lock you out. Media lists held only in the agency's tools can leave with the agency. In-flight work with no named owner can stop without anyone noticing.

Check each of the three against your account inventory before you send notice.

What should you do first?

Start with the contract and the account inventory, because they set your last day and show what you must recover. Then assign an owner to every row of the handover table, confirm the successor, and send notice in the form the contract requires.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Have a lawyer review notice, ownership and confidentiality terms before you send anything. Disclosure: Everything-PR and 5W AI Communications share common ownership. Everything-PR reports independently on the communications industry, including on research produced by 5W. Editorial decisions are made by Everything-PR's editorial team.