Wakefield Council is seeking to promote Business Continuity Management to commercial and voluntary organisations within the District. The Council recognised the need to provide advice and guidance as part of the statutory requirements set out in the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Please see "Related Links" for the Act.

What is Business Continuity Management?

Business continuity management is a planning practice used to identify what aspects of your business activities and resources are essential. It can help your business to develop documented plans on how to maintain “business as usual” in the event of a civil emergency or business interruption. Business continuity management is scalable and applies equally to individual traders or large organisations.

A range of internal or community based risks could threaten your organisation, this could include a fuel crisis, pandemics, the loss of your workplace, theft and vandalism, communications failure, industrial action, power failures etc.

Why is Business Continuity Management important?

No business is immune from the effects of disruption, so it makes sense to take some basic and general steps to protect the key parts of your business in advance. Poor forward planning often threatens the survival of unprepared businesses when a major emergency or serious disruption occurs. Statistics show that 1 in 5 organisations suffer a major disruption every year. The causes of disruption can vary significantly in scale and intensity ranging from fires, floods, partner or technology failure, to wide scale national events such as fuel disruption, terrorism, pandemics etc. Incidents can quickly affect the key assets of your business. Assets can include:

• Worksites
• Staff and skills
• Suppliers and partners
• Specialist equipment
• Technology and communications
• Data / information

If your business has any of the above assets and cannot function or recover quickly without them following a business interruption, you may want to seriously consider business continuity management.

What would be the benefits of undertaking Business Continuity Management?

Implementing business continuity management can help to:

• Safeguard your reputation and competitive edge
• Preserve customer loyalty and trust
• Protect financial income and key business activities
• Enhance business recovery following serious disruption events
• Support insurance claims

How we will warn and Inform on Civil Emergencies?

During a civil emergency the Councils Emergency Planning Team may need to provide information to the community. Under such circumstances your organisation is advised to regularly check the Council’s emergency information website.

Please see "Related Links".

Where can I find out more about Business Continuity Management?

Promotional and planning information is available from a number of sources:

• Preparing for Emergencies - Government advice for businesses
• West Yorkshire Community Risk Register - an overview of the possible risks/hazards in West Yorkshire
• Expecting the Unexpected - A basic guide to the business continuity planning process
• Secure in the Knowledge - Advice on business security
• Business Continuity Institute - Good Practice Guidelines 2005
• London Prepared - Ten Minute Assessment - A short self-assessment of your business
• London Prepared, - General Checklists/Templates - General Business Continuity Planning Templates

Please see "Related Links" for these sites. 

General business continuity advice can be obtained from the following:

• Continuity Central
• Global Continuity
• Continuity Forum
• UK Resilience
• Financial Sector Continuity

Please see "Related Links" for these sites

Draft Business Continuity Plan For Businesses

This document is a general indication only of the elements organisations might wish to include in a business continuity plan.  The activities and size of your particular business will dictate the level of business continuity planning you will need.  Organisations are advised to consider seeking professional assistance in preparing a business continuity plan and not to rely on this document alone. Please see "Downloads" for this document. 

Business Continuity Leaflet

This publication contains Business Continuity advice for commercial and voluntary organisations in West Yorkshire, please see "Downloads" for details.

Updates and Further Support from the Council

If you would like to receive future emails about the Council’s promotion of business continuity management or you would like to discuss business continuity management further, please contact us - see "Also In".