Business Continuity
Business Continuity Planning
Any incident whether it is large or small, accidental or deliberate, can cause major disruption to your business. However, by planning in advance you will be able to resume your day to day business sooner.
This is where business continuity planning (BCP) comes in. Its purpose is to help you to prepare strategies to cope with disruptions so that you can continue to deliver your business' critical activities and reduce potential harm to staff.
By understanding the risks facing the everyday running of your business or organisation, you are better able to foresee problems and guard against them developing into serious disruptions.
Why have a business continuity plan?
It is important to plan for unforeseen circumstances. For example, what would you do if your workplace catches fire?
Some hard decisions will have to be made, and made quickly. For instance:
- What do you do with all your staff?
- How do you tell the community/customer that you cannot provide 'business/service as usual'?
- How do you meet important deadlines?
The list of questions grows, and so do the levels of uncertainty and anxiety. Without a BCP you will have to rely on an ad-hoc approach to deal with these issues.
For further information on business continuity, please visit the Business Continuity Institute.
Kent County Council (KCC) also provides a business continuity plan template to help your business. Download KCC business continuity plan template [pdf] 132KB.
KCC, in partnership with Low Carbon Kent, have also produced a helpful factsheet for Business Continuity.
Climate Change: Improving Resilience for your business
The impacts of climate change are becoming more apparent and in the future the UK is likely to experience warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. In partnership with Low Carbon Kent, KCC have produced a usual factsheet on how to identify the climate risks to your business and adapt.
Protecting your business from Terrorism
The National Counter Terrorism Security Office has issued a guide for small and medium sized enterprises to help protect their business.
For further information, please read the 'NaCTSO Counting the cost – Managing risk, insurance and terrorism' booklet.
The Home Office has also produced guidance on protecting businesses. Read 'Expecting the unexpected – Business continuity in an uncertain world' for more information.
Business Continuity Awareness Week
Business Continuity Awareness Week (BCAW) runs every year in May with a different theme aimed at helping businesses to think about business continuity and to raise awareness of the benefits of forward planning to protect your business and staff.
This is an annual event run by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI)
Information to support businesses can be found at following link to the BCI website: Business Continuity Awareness Week 2024.
Cyber security
Business Continuity Awareness Week runs in May and is a nationwide event. This year, the theme was cyber security.
Cyber-attacks and data breaches have proven to be two of the greatest concerns for business continuity professionals for several years running.
Following Russia's further violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has called on organisations in the UK to bolster their online defences. The NCSC – which is a part of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – has urged organisations to follow its guidance on steps to take when the cyber threat is heightened.
While the NCSC is not aware of any current specific threats to UK organisations in relation to events in and around Ukraine, there has been a historical pattern of cyber-attacks on Ukraine with international consequences.
The guidance encourages organisations to follow actionable steps that reduce the risk of falling victim to an attack.
Visit the NCSC website for actions you can take when the cyber threat is heightened.
To help your business keep its IT secure, please read NCSC password security advice, which gives useful information on how to keep passwords within your organisation safe.
If you would like more information on business continuity and cyber security, you can also visit Business Continuity Institute.
Would your business stay afloat? A guide to preparing your business for flooding
Make sure your business is prepared for flooding, one of the most common and widespread natural disasters in the UK. The Environment Agency have prepared a simple guide on some of the easy actions that you can take to make sure that your business is as well as possible. Have a look at the business checklist on page 15 of this document to see if your business is prepared for flooding.
Download the Environment Agency - Would your business stay afloat?
KCC, in partnership with Low Carbon Kent, have also produced a helpful factsheet on flooding.
To learn more about how you can get support following a flood, please see our flood support webpage.
Contact us
If you have any queries or require further information on this webpage, please contact Emergency Planning via 01233 331111 or email emergency.planning@ashford.gov.uk.
