Business Continuity - Business Advice
 Advice and assistance
to business and voluntary organisations
The Civil
Contingencies Act 2004 (CCA) requires local authorities to provide
advice and assistance to those undertaking commercial activities
and to voluntary organisations in relation to business continuity
management (BCM) in the event of emergencies.
The duty of local authorities
to give advice and assistance to business and voluntary organisations
in relation to BCM is an integral part of the Act's wider contribution
to building the UK's resilience to disruptive challenges.
In the event of an emergency,
local responders will give all the assistance they can, but there
is a merit in ensuring that communities themselves are resilient.
In particular, it is important to ensure that the impact of an emergency
on the continuity of commercial and voluntary organisations is kept
to a minimum. This will lessen the economic and social impact
of emergencies and speed up recovery.
Establishing a source
of BCM advice and assistance prior to an emergency occurring will
raise business continuity awareness in the community, and help organisations
to help themselves in case of an incident.
While the Act imposes
a duty on local authorities to offer advice and assistance to those
carrying out commercial activities and voluntary organisations,
it does not impose a corresponding obligation on those organisations
to act upon it.
Pandemic Influenza Checklist
To assist businesses and other organisations in developing and reviewing plans for a flu pandemic, the Government has published a checklist identifying important and specific activities which organisations can do to prepare. Click here to access the Checklist
What would happen if your business or organisation was involved in an emergency or major disaster?
In these uncertain times, it makes sense to plan and prepare your business for the unexpected. Some  companies already have well-developed contingency plans in place, it may not seem a priority for your business to have plans, but consider some of the implications of not having a business continuity plan.
| 1. |
80% of businesses affected by a major incident without a business continuity plan either never re-open or close within 18 months. |
2. |
90% of businesses that lose data from a disaster are forced to shut within 2 years. |
3. |
Nearly 1 in 5 businesses suffer disruption every year |
Why should you consider Business Continuity?
Business Continuity Management (BCM) plans are beneficial for all organisations, no matter what their size. If you experience an emergency situation, even for a short period of time, a well maintained plan will assist you in managing the essential elements of your business and also help you to recover from the emergency more quickly. It will also help to maintain communication with your staff (if you have any) and identify who needs to do what should an emergency occur.
What is Business Continuity?
Business Continuity is about having plans in place to help ensure that your business or organisation is able to operate in the event of an emergency or disruption to service provision. Having a tried and tested plan in place will help to ensure that your business or organisation suffers the least possible disruption and so continue to operate following that disruption.
Without effective business continuity planning a natural or man made disaster or disruption could result in;
• Complete failure of your business
• Loss of Income
• Loss of Reputation and/or loss of customers
• Financial Legal and Regulatory Penalties
• Human Resource Issues
• An impact on insurance premiums
Where do I start?
First of all, look through the 10 minute assessment for a list of what needs to be considered.
How to Develop a Business Continuity Plan?
A Business Continuity Plan will enable a business to respond in a controlled manner to any disruption caused by internal or external factors.
There are five key stages that make up the Business Continuity Planning Cycle |
| 1. Analyse your Business |
Make a list of the critical services in priority order and consider where you may be vulnerable, e.g. suppliers, partners, buildings, equipment, staff, systems and processes, timescales (deadlines), power etc. The analysis process will determine:
- What does your business produce?
- What key staff and systems are necessary for the delivery of that service.
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| 2. Assess the Risks |
How likely is an identified risk to occur? How will it affect your business?
- What can go wrong?
- How will a risk affect delivery of your service.
|
| 3. Develop your Strategy |
Your strategy will determine:
- How you can reduce the risks;
- How you recover from disruptive incidents.
|
| 4. Develop your Plan |
A simple generic plan will provide:
- A list of actions to enable you to continue your critical services;
- Detailed specific actions for different types of risk and services
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| 5. Rehearse your Plan |
Involve your employees in the planning process and ensure you discuss your plan with staff when complete. Provide training for all staff with roles and responsibilities identified in your BCM plan.
- Carry out an exercise to test your plan.
- Testing the plan will identify gaps and highlight problems.
- You may already have a plan but:
• Are your staff aware of it?
• When did you last review it?
• Have you ever tested it?
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Further Information
The five Local Authorities in Tyne and Wear and Tyne and Wear Emergency Planning Unit can provide general advice and can assist by giving details of useful websites, examples of best practice, BCM techniques and further reading.
Should you require specific advice for your particular business, web links are provided to organisations who can assist you with BCM Planning.
The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) maintain a register of consultants and provide information a business should consider prior to engaging a BCM consultant.
Local Authority Websites
The following websites provide Business Continuity advice for local businesses and organisations:-
For further information regarding Business Continuity
Contact the Tyne and Wear Emergency Planning Unit:-
info@tyneandwearepu.gov.uk or alternatively contact us on 0191 561 7999
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