Business Continuity - Local Government

What our client needed, what we created, how it worked

What our client needed

In the United Kingdom new legislation places significant responsibilities upon certain categories of organisation. Our client, a Local Authority in Northern England, was required by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to implement and maintain a business continuity plan. The aim of this was to ensure that the Council's operating functions and key services were maintained in the event of emergency.

What we created

In order to meet the Government's tight implementation timetable, Continuity Planning was approached to analyse our client's operations and assess key hazards and threats that might disrupt their provision of services. We then developed a business continuity plan that incorporated existing work previously carried out by their Emergency Planning Officer. Our solution was developed with particular reference to the legislative requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act and used methodologies approved for use by Local Authorities.

Our client decided to initiate a comprehensive training and exercising package. In particular, all staff within the organisation received an overall briefing on the main threats and immediate response procedures to follow. The local community was also briefed on the Council's new continuity plans through informative content on the Council website, articles in local newspapers and media interviews.

How it worked

The Local Authority has now implemented a Business Continuity Management system that fully meets the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act. They are considerably more resilient to detrimental events and have demonstrated to staff and local citizens the effectiveness of their continuity planning arrangements.

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