United Kingdom · PR and communications · Lead (8-12 years)

Lead Corporate Communications Executive

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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Free to start: a plan built for this role, and a Future Fluency module to try first. No card.

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  • Experience bandLead (8-12 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toDirector, Corporate Communications
  • UK framework levelUsually a manager, or the deepest specialist in a team

Also advertised as Communications Manager · Principal Communications Strategist · Senior PR Manager

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

Level 6 Award in Leading Organisational Change Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 6 · covers 1 of 9 standards
ATHE Level 6 Certificate in Crisis Management and Crisis Communication ATHE Ltd · Level 6 · covers 1 of 9 standards
ATHE Level ATHE Level 6 Diploma in Risk Management for Crowded Places ATHE Ltd · Level 6 · covers 1 of 9 standards
IAO Level 5 Diploma for Assistant Practitioners in Healthcare Innovate Awarding · Level 5 · covers 1 of 9 standards
Level 6 Certificate in Professional Sales Institute of Sales Professionals · Level 6 · covers 1 of 9 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Lead Organisational Change Level 6 Award in Leading Organisational Change
Crisis Management and Crisis Communication ATHE Level 6 Certificate in Crisis Management and Crisis Communication
Manage communication systems and processes NCFE CACHE Level 5 Diploma in Leadership for Health and Social Care Services (Northern Ireland)
Lead practice for communication and information management in care settings IAO Level 5 Diploma for Assistant Practitioners in Healthcare

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture
Your Plan Illustration

Built for Lead Corporate Communications Executive

4 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Lead Organisational Change Institute of Sales Professionals · covers 1 of 9 standards Level 6
  2. Crisis Management and Crisis Communication ATHE Ltd · covers 1 of 9 standards Level 6
  3. Manage communication systems and processes NCFE · covers 1 of 9 standards Level 5
  4. Lead practice for communication and information management in care settings Innovate Awarding · covers 1 of 9 standards Level 5
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Lead Corporate Communications Executive?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration for Comms
  • Data Storytelling for Comms Impact
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Lead Corporate Communications Executive plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

3What this role really is

Corporate communications work means shaping how an organisation talks to the world, and sometimes to its own people. This role covers specific comms programmes, keeping messages clear, consistent and aimed at the right audience. It carries a strategic advisory element alongside the hands on work.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Cision / Meltwater / Muck Rack (Media Intelligence & Monitoring) Advanced

Designing complex boolean search queries, conducting sentiment and Share of Voice (SOV) analysis, identifying trending journalists and narratives, and creating bespoke coverage reports for specific programmes.

PR Newswire / Business Wire (Press Release Distribution) Advanced

Managing the end-to-end distribution process for major announcements, including targeting, timing, and multimedia assets to maximise pickup and reach.

Sprinklr / Sprout Social / Khoros (Social Media Management) Advanced

Managing content calendars for corporate social channels, engaging with followers, analysing performance metrics, and running paid promotional campaigns for key announcements.

Architecting new internal comms sites, developing multi-channel internal campaigns (email, intranet, video), and segmenting audiences for targeted messaging during change programmes.

Asana / Slack / MS Teams (Collaboration & PM) Advanced

Building and managing complex project plans for launches or events, setting up automated workflows, and training junior staff on project management best practices within the comms team.

PowerPoint (Advanced) / Canva for Teams (Presentation & Design) Advanced

Designing compelling narratives in PowerPoint with advanced animations/transitions for executive presentations, and creating high-quality social graphics and infographics in Canva for comms campaigns.

Tableau / Power BI (Executive Reporting) Intermediate

Connecting comms data sources (e.g., Cision exports) to create custom reports and dashboards, measuring comms impact for specific programmes and presenting findings to senior stakeholders.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Comms Programme Strategy & Narrative Proposes initial ideas for review. Develops and presents full programme plans for approval. Defines and owns the strategic direction and narrative for major programmes, with Director-level consultation.
Media Engagement & Pitching Drafts pitches and media lists for approval; participates in media calls. Independently pitches routine stories; manages media relationships for specific beats. Leads engagement with Tier 1 media for key programmes; advises executives on media strategy; handles sensitive media inquiries.
Budget Allocation (Programme Level) Tracks expenses against allocated budget. Manages budget for specific projects (e.g., £5K-£20K), flags overspends. Manages and allocates programme budgets up to £50K-£500K, including agency fees; makes recommendations for larger investments.
Crisis Communications Response Monitors media for issues; drafts initial holding statements for review. Contributes to crisis 'war room' activities; drafts approved statements for specific channels. Leads the comms response for specific crises, advising senior leaders; coordinates internal and external messaging; manages agency support.
Team/Agency Management Receives direction and completes tasks. Provides informal guidance to new joiners; manages specific agency deliverables. Mentors 0-2 junior team members; manages entire agency relationships for specific programmes, including performance and budget.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Tier 1 Media Coverage
Number of times our company or key spokespeople are featured in top-tier industry or national media outlets for your assigned programmes.
Target · Secure 5+ pieces of Tier 1 coverage per quarter for your owned programmes.

Achieving three features in the Financial Times and two in TechCrunch about our new product launch in Q2.

Key Message Pull-Through
How often our core messages (from press releases, talking points) actually appear in the resulting media coverage.
Target · Achieve 80%+ key message inclusion in earned media coverage for your major announcements.

After a product announcement, 85% of the articles written about it included our three core messages about innovation and customer benefit.

Internal Comms Engagement (for owned campaigns)
Readership, open rates, and feedback on internal communications you lead, especially during change programmes.
Target · Increase average open rates by 15% and click-through rates by 10% for your internal campaigns year-over-year.

An internal newsletter about our new hybrid working policy saw a 20% increase in open rates compared to the previous quarter's average.

Agency/Vendor Programme Budget Adherence
Keeping your assigned comms programme budgets, including agency fees, within agreed limits.
Target · Maintain less than 5% variance from approved budgets for all managed programmes.

Managed the Q4 product launch comms budget of £150K, coming in at £148K, a 1.3% underspend.

Stakeholder Trust & Advisory Role
How much senior leaders and business partners rely on your advice and proactively involve you in strategic discussions before comms issues arise.
  • You're invited to early-stage planning meetings, not just told about decisions after they're made. Business unit directors seek your input on sensitive topics. They trust your judgment on messaging and timing, even when it's tough news.
Crisis Preparedness & Response Effectiveness
Your ability to anticipate potential comms issues, develop robust plans, and execute them calmly and effectively when a crisis hits, minimising negative impact.
  • You've got holding statements ready for common scenarios. During a live issue, you're the calm voice in the 'war room', ensuring consistent messaging. Post-crisis, the issue was contained quickly with minimal reputational damage.
Narrative Consistency & Brand Voice
Ensuring all communications within your remit consistently reinforce our company's overarching narrative and brand voice, avoiding mixed messages.
  • Media coverage and internal comms consistently reflect our core values and strategic priorities. Executives use the approved messaging triangle in their public appearances. There's a clear, unified voice across all channels you manage.
Mentorship & Team Development
Your contribution to developing junior members of the team, helping them grow their skills and confidence.
  • Junior team members seek your advice and feedback. You regularly conduct code reviews (for comms content, not actual code!) and provide constructive criticism. Your mentees show measurable improvement in their writing and strategic thinking.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Protecting & Building Reputation

You get a real kick out of seeing positive media coverage that you've helped shape, or successfully navigating a tricky situation that could have damaged the company. It's about being the guardian of our brand's good name.

Successfully managing the comms around a minor product recall, turning a potential negative into a story about our commitment to customer safety and transparency.

Strategic Influence & Impact

You love being in the room when big decisions are made, offering your communications perspective, and seeing your advice genuinely influence the outcome. You want to be a trusted advisor, not just an executor.

Convincing a business unit director to rephrase a sensitive internal announcement, leading to significantly better employee morale and understanding.

Crafting Compelling Narratives

There's a deep satisfaction in taking complex information and turning it into a clear, concise, and engaging story. You enjoy the challenge of finding the right words and the perfect angle to make a message stick.

Transforming a dry technical update into an inspiring blog post that gets shared widely and generates positive comments from customers.

What frustrates people
  • Being informed of a major layoff or acquisition minutes before it's public and being expected to have a flawless multi-channel communication plan ready instantly.
  • Watching a crisp, powerful press release get diluted with corporate jargon and caveats by endless stakeholder reviews, resulting in a bland and ineffective final document.
  • Constantly explaining to executives that in the modern media landscape, 'no comment' is interpreted as 'we're guilty and we're hiding something'.
  • Fighting for a strategic seat at the table but still being treated by some leaders as a reactive 'press release factory' rather than a core business advisor.
  • The 24/7 news cycle means your job is never 'off'. A negative tweet can blow up on a Sunday night, and you are the one who has to manage it while everyone else is offline.
  • Spending hours meticulously preparing a senior leader for a media interview with clear talking points, only to watch them go completely off-script live on air, creating a new crisis you now have to clean up.
  • Securing a fantastic feature story in a Tier 1 outlet that drives significant inbound interest, only to see the Sales and Marketing teams take 100% of the credit because PR is 'hard to measure'.
What this role does not give you
  • A predictable 9-to-5 schedule with no surprises.
  • Complete creative freedom without any stakeholder input or legal review.
  • A role where you only focus on one specific area of communications without needing to understand the broader business context.
  • Guaranteed immediate, direct attribution for every piece of work in terms of revenue or leads.

8Who you work with

Your work directly shapes our public image and internal cohesion for critical initiatives. You're responsible for making sure our narrative is consistent, compelling, and accurate. Get it right, and we build trust and market position. Get it wrong, and we could face significant reputational damage or internal disengagement. You're a key player in protecting and enhancing our brand value.

Inside the business
  • Business Unit Directors (e.g., Product, Engineering, Sales)
  • Legal & Compliance teams
  • Human Resources leadership
  • Marketing & Brand teams
  • Senior Leadership (for specific project advice)
Outside the business
  • Key Journalists & Media Outlets (Tier 1 & 2)
  • PR Agency Partners
  • Industry Analysts & Influencers
  • Customers (through public statements)
  • Investors (via financial comms support)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Proven track record of developing and executing successful communications programmes for complex organisations, not just individual tasks.
  • Demonstrated ability to advise and influence Director-level stakeholders on communications strategy and sensitive issues.
  • Experience in managing external PR agencies or vendors, including setting objectives, managing budgets, and evaluating performance.
  • A strong portfolio of written work, including press releases, executive talking points, internal communications, and crisis statements.
  • Experience in media relations, including proactive pitching to Tier 1 media and handling reactive media inquiries.
  • A solid understanding of comms measurement and reporting, moving beyond vanity metrics to demonstrate business impact.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Media Intelligence Platform Utilisation

To stay ahead, you'll need to move beyond basic reporting. This means using platforms like Cision or Meltwater not just for monitoring, but for predictive analysis – identifying emerging narratives, journalist interests, and potential crises before they fully develop.

Predictive Media Analytics · Influencer Identification & Vetting · Competitive Share of Voice (SOV) Modelling

  • This week: Explore advanced features and custom report builders within our current media monitoring platform.
  • This month: Attend vendor webinars or training sessions on advanced analytics and predictive capabilities.
  • Month 2: Design and implement a new competitive SOV dashboard for your assigned business unit.
  • Month 3: Present insights from your advanced media intelligence to a senior stakeholder, highlighting a proactive opportunity or risk.

Quick win: Set up an alert for a specific emerging trend in our industry and present a brief summary of early media coverage and sentiment to your Director next week.

Integrated Comms Workflow Automation

As comms becomes more complex and multi-channel, efficiency is key. You'll need to automate routine tasks and integrate different tools to create seamless workflows, from content creation to distribution and measurement. This means less manual work, more strategic thinking.

API Integration Fundamentals · No-Code/Low-Code Automation Platforms · Automated Reporting Dashboards

  • This week: Identify one repetitive comms task that takes more than 30 minutes a week (e.g., compiling daily media clips).
  • This month: Research no-code automation solutions (e.g., Zapier) and try to automate that task.
  • Month 2: Explore how to connect our media monitoring platform data to a shared internal dashboard (e.g., in SharePoint or Tableau).
  • Month 3: Present your automated workflow to the team, demonstrating the time savings and efficiency gains.

Quick win: Set up a simple Zapier automation to automatically add new media mentions from Cision into a Slack channel or Asana task for your team.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending industry conferences and webinars (e.g., PR Week, CIPR, PRCA events) to stay current on trends and network with peers.
  • Subscribing to and actively reading industry publications and thought leadership (e.g., PRovoke Media, Holmes Report).
  • Participating in professional development courses focused on executive presence, advanced writing, or crisis management.
  • Seeking out opportunities to mentor junior professionals, which helps solidify your own understanding and leadership skills.
  • Engaging with our internal Zavmo AI Hub to explore new tools and techniques that can enhance your productivity and strategic impact.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration for Comms

Competitors are already using Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT and Claude to draft reports, press releases, and social content in minutes, not hours. Comms professionals who master this will outproduce their peers significantly, freeing up time for higher-value strategic work.

  • Context Windows & Token Limits
  • Temperature Settings for Different Tasks
  • RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) Architectures
  • Output Validation & Hallucination Detection
  • Prompt Chaining for Complex Comms

Data Storytelling for Comms Impact

Comms teams are increasingly expected to prove their value with hard data, not just anecdotes. Being able to translate complex comms metrics into compelling narratives that resonate with senior leaders and show real business impact is becoming non-negotiable.

  • AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework
  • Correlation vs. Causation in Comms
  • Visualisation Best Practices
  • Benchmarking & Goal Setting with Data

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Crisis Communications & Management
  • Executive Communications & Platform Building
  • Media Relations & Narrative Control
  • Internal & Change Communications Strategy
  • Reputation Management & Measurement
  • Integrated PESO Model Strategy

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Senior Communications Specialist (Internal Progression)

    3-5 years as a Senior Specialist

    Skills to master

    • Consistently leading successful comms initiatives, building strong relationships with internal stakeholders, demonstrating proactive risk identification, and effectively managing smaller projects independently.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Has successfully led 3-5 major comms initiatives from start to finish.
    • Is regularly sought out by mid-level managers for comms advice.
    • Has demonstrated an ability to handle reactive media inquiries with confidence and accuracy.
    • Has mentored junior team members informally and shown leadership potential.
  2. 2

    PR Agency Account Manager/Director

    5-7 years at an agency, with 2-3 years at Manager/Director level

    Skills to master

    • Managing client relationships, developing and executing multi-channel PR campaigns, managing agency teams, and handling media relations for multiple clients. You'll need to demonstrate how those agency skills translate to an in-house corporate environment.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Managed a portfolio of 2-3 significant client accounts, exceeding their comms objectives.
    • Successfully pitched and secured Tier 1 media coverage for clients consistently.
    • Has experience managing a small team of agency consultants.
    • Can articulate the difference between agency and in-house comms, showing an understanding of corporate dynamics.
  3. 3

    Communications Lead (from another industry)

    8-10 years in comms, with 3-5 years in a lead role

    Skills to master

    • Adapting comms strategies to a new industry context (e.g., tech/SaaS/FinTech), quickly building relationships with new internal stakeholders, and demonstrating an understanding of our company's specific challenges and opportunities.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully led comms for a major business unit or product line in a previous role.
    • Can demonstrate transferable skills in crisis management, executive comms, and media relations.
    • Has a strong network that could be leveraged (where appropriate and ethical) in our industry.
    • Shows a genuine interest and quick learning ability for our specific sector.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead towards senior communications roles, including director-level positions or a move into public affairs.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Lead Corporate Communications Executive is actually changing.

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Lead Organisational Change, worked against Lead Corporate Communications Executive.

Lead Organisational Change Level 6

Applied to your work in Lead Corporate Communications Executive

This unit aims to provide learners with a comprehensive understanding of organisational change, including various models and influencing factors. Learners will be able to effectively communicate a change vision to stakeholders and lead the change process, managing resistance to ensure successful implementation.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Lead Corporate Communications Executive
  • Crisis Communications & Management
  • Executive Communications & Platform Building
  • Media Relations & Narrative Control
  • Internal & Change Communications Strategy
  • Reputation Management & Measurement
  • Integrated PESO Model Strategy
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Lead Corporate Communications Executive is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. This is a step up to managing a significant functional area (e.g., Internal Comms, Media Relations) or a larger team. You'll move from managing programmes to directing a function.

    • Integrated Comms Strategy (Departmental) Developing a cohesive strategy across all comms channels for an entire department.
    • Reputation Risk Management (Enterprise) Identifying and mitigating reputation risks at an organisational level, not just programme-specific.
    • Change Management Communications (Large Scale) Leading comms for major company-wide transformations (e.g., M&A integration).
  2. Principal Communications Strategist (L4/L5 IC Track)

    3-5 years in the Lead role

    This is an individual contributor path focused on deep expertise in highly complex or critical comms areas, often with compensation comparable to a Senior Manager. You'll become the go-to expert for the hardest problems.

    • Global Crisis Management Leading comms for international crises with complex legal and cultural nuances.
    • M&A Communications (Strategic) Developing and executing comms strategies for major mergers, acquisitions, or divestitures.
    • Thought Leadership Platform Development Architecting and managing comprehensive thought leadership programmes for C-suite executives.
    • Advanced Comms Analytics & Modelling Building sophisticated models to predict comms impact and optimise strategies.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, corporate communications isn't always glamorous. There's a lot of grunt work, repetitive tasks, and endless drafting. But what if you could offload a significant chunk of that to AI, freeing you up to focus on the truly strategic, high-impact stuff? This isn't about replacing you; it's about making you a comms superpower.

As a Lead Corporate Communications Executive, you're juggling multiple programmes, advising senior leaders, and managing agencies. AI isn't just a buzzword here; it's a practical tool that can automate your initial drafts, give you real-time insights into public sentiment, and even help you find that perfect journalist. We're building an AI Hub to help you do more, faster, and better.

First Draft Automation

Use generative AI, trained on our company's tone of voice and past materials, to pump out initial drafts of routine press releases, social media posts, internal memos, or even executive talking points. You'll spend your time refining and adding strategic nuance, not staring at a blank page.

Real-Time Sentiment Analysis

Forget sifting through thousands of articles manually. AI-powered media monitoring tools can instantly analyse the tone and sentiment of vast amounts of online content during a product launch or crisis. You'll get real-time insights into public reaction, allowing you to pivot your strategy in minutes, not days.

Journalist & Topic Research

AI can quickly identify the most relevant journalists covering your specific niche, analyse their recent articles to help you craft the perfect pitch angle, and generate concise background briefings on complex topics for executive media prep. No more endless Google searches.

Message Refinement & Audience Tuning

Got a core message? Pop it into an AI tool and ask it to rewrite it for different audiences – 'explain this to an engineer,' 'now explain it to an investor,' 'now write it as an inspiring employee memo.' This ensures tonal consistency and relevance across all your channels, saving you hours of manual tweaking.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Lead Corporate Communications Executive?

Common routes in include Senior Communications Specialist (Internal Progression) (3-5 years as a Senior Specialist), PR Agency Account Manager/Director (5-7 years at an agency, with 2-3 years at Manager/Director level) and Communications Lead (from another industry) (8-10 years in comms, with 3-5 years in a lead role). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Lead Corporate Communications Executive progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior Manager, Corporate Communications (3-5 years in the Lead role) and Principal Communications Strategist (3-5 years in the Lead role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Lead Corporate Communications Executive?

Increasingly, Prompt Engineering & LLM Integration for Comms and Data Storytelling for Comms Impact. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

17Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 5

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

More jobs in PR and communications

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

The skills involved apply across industries. Managing complex narratives, advising senior leaders and reading media coverage matter in tech, finance, healthcare or consumer goods alike.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.