Continuity Plan

Document Version Control

Version No.

Date Change Made

New Version No.

Changes Made By (initial)

Comment

00.01

14 Sep 2018

 

HW

New document

01.00

24 Oct 2018

 

HW

Adopted on 08/10/18

01.01

Jun 2020

 

HW

Reviewed at Full Council 15/6/20 Agenda item 10.5.

 

Contents

toc goes in here

1. Purpose

1.1 This document supports Macclesfield Town Council to:

  • Respond to a disruptive incident (incident management),
  • Deliver critical activities/services during an incident (business continuity),
  • Return to ‘business as usual’ (resumption and recovery).

2. Responsibilities

2.1 The Clerk is responsible for ensuring that this document is maintained, exercised and updated in accordance with internal requirements.

2.2 The plan will be reviewed annually.

3. Plan Activation

3.1 Circumstances

3.1.1 This plan will be activated in response to an incident causing significant disruption to normal service delivery/business, particularly the delivery of key/critical activities.

3.1.2 The Clerk will be responsible for activating the Plan.

3.1.3 Examples of circumstances triggering activation of this Plan include:

  • Loss of key staff or skills e.g. above normal levels of absenteeism due to illness,
  • Loss of critical systems e.g. ICT failure,
  • Denial of access, or damage to, facilities e.g. loss of a building through fire,
  • Loss of a key resource e.g. a major supplier vital to the delivery of a key service.

3.2 Process for Activation

Process For Activation Chart

Description of image, text from the top, following the arrows down the chart:

  • Incident occurs
  • Assess the nature, scale & impact of the disruption

Chart splits into two, branch 1 (left):

  • Incident has significant impact on critical activities
  • Activate plan and continuity arrangements
  • Notify relevant people
  • Take action to manage the incident
  • Maintain critical activities
  • Take action to return to ‘business as usual’

Branch 2 (right):

  • Incident has little or no impact on critical activities
  • Do not activate continuity arrangements
  • Situation monitored (with dotted line back to where branch splits)

 

4. Incident Management

4.1 Actions to protect the safety and welfare of staff, visitors and the public

4.1.1 The following actions will be taken to protect the immediate safety of staff, visitors and the public:
Number

Action

Futher Info/Details

1.     

Evacuate the building if necessary

Use normal evacuation procedures for the building

2.     

Ensure all staff report to the Assembly Point

Use the normal Assembly Points as identified by the building emergency procedures

3.     

Call emergency services (as appropriate)

Cheshire East Council staff may take responsibility for this

4.     

Check that all staff, contractors and any visitors of Macclesfield Town Council have been evacuated from the building and are present. Consider safety of all staff, contactors and visitors as a priority

The Clerk is responsible for completing this action

5.     

Ensure an incident log is started and maintained throughout the incident phase

The Clerk is responsible for completing this action

6.     

Record names and details of any staff, contractors or visitors who may have been injured or distressed in the incident.

The Clerk is responsible for completing this action

7.     

Forward details of any fatalities or injuries in the incident to HR (depending on scale of incident) and agree action that will be taken.

HR contacts are at the end of this document

8.     

Assess impact of the incident to agree response / next steps

The Clerk is responsible for completing this action in consultation with the Mayor.

9.     

Log details of all items lost by staff, visitors etc as a result of the incident

The Clerk is responsible for completing this action

10.  

Consider whether the involvement of other teams, services or organisations are required to support the management of the incident

Depending on the incident the following may be approached to assist with incident management:

  • Personnel
  • Health and Safety
  • Legal
4.2 Actions to Support Business Continuity
Number

Action

Further Info/Details

1.     

Recover vital assets/equipment to enable delivery of critical activities

The essential equipment/resources/information that need to be recovered where possible are:

  • Data (currently held on the NAS drive but due to be migrated to Microsoft Onedrive)
  • Minutes

2.     

Assess the key priorities for the remainder of the working day and take relevant action

Priorities will include but not be limited to:

  • Contact Councillors
  • Divert incoming calls to an alternative phone
  • Post message on social media/website
  • Consider sending staff home

3.     

Inform staff what is required of them

E.g. Will staff work from home?

4.     

Publicise the interim arrangements for delivery of critical activities
  • Ensure all stakeholders are kept informed of contingency arrangements as appropriate.
  • A list of stakeholders and their contact details are at the end of this document
4.3 Actions to Support Recovery and Resumption

 Number

Action

Futher Info/Details

1.     

Take any salvage/asset recovery actions that are appropriate

Remove any equipment and records that are at risk of damage and are business critical

2.     

Log all expenditure incurred as a result of the incident

Use the incident log

 

3.     

Seek specific advice/ inform the Insurance Company

The Clerk is responsible for completing this action

5. Business Continuity

5.1 Purpose

5.1.1 The purpose of the business continuity phase of the response is to ensure that critical activities are resumed as quickly as possible and/or continue to be delivered during the disruption.

5.2 Critical Activities

5.2.1 The following activities are identified as critical:

Number

Brief Description of Critical Activities

1.     

Availability of statutory information to the public.

2.     

Financial management and reporting

3.     

Delivery of scheduled events, services and meetings

5.3 Non-Critical Activities

5.3.1 A number of activities are non-critical, and consideration will be given to:

  • Not recovering these activities until critical activities have been resumed
  • Suspending these activities and diverting their resources to support the critical ones
5.3.2 The non-critical activities are:

 Number

Brief Description of Non-Critical Activities

1.     

Formal meetings e.g. Full Council, Finance Commitee

2.     

Timely payment of accounts/payroll

3.     

Management of the Civic Diary

4.     

Event delivery

5.     

Project delivery

6.     

Community engagement                                       

5.4 Business Continuity Actions

5.4.1 The Clerk is responsible for ensuring the following actions are completed:

Number

Action

Futher Info/Details

1.     

Identify any other staff required to be involved in the response

E.g. ICT services                    

2.     

Evaluate the impact of the incident

To understand the impact of the incident on ‘business as usual’ working activities.

3.     

Plan how critical activities will be maintained.

Consider:

  • Immediate priorities
  • Communication strategies
  • Deployment of resources
  • Finance
  • Monitoring the situation
  • Reporting

4.     

Allocate specific roles as necessary

Roles allocated will depend on the incident and availability of staff

5.     

Secure resources to enable critical activities to continue/be recovered

Consider requirements such as the staffing, premises, equipment.

6.     

Deliver appropriate communication actions as required

Ensure methods of communication and key messages are developed as appropriate to the needs of your key stakeholders

6. Recovery and Resumption

6.1 Purpose of the Recovery and Resumption Phase

6.1.1 The purpose of the recovery and resumption phase is to resume normal working practises for Macclesfield Town Council. Where the impact of the incident is prolonged, normal operations may need to be delivered under new circumstances e.g. from a different building.

6.2 Recovery and Resumption Actions

Number

Action

Futher Info/Details

1.     

Agree and plan the actions required to enable recovery and resumption of normal working practises

Agreed actions will be detailed in an action plan and set against timescales with responsibility for completion clearly indicated.

2.     

Continue to log all expenditure incurred as a result of the incident

 

 

3.     

Respond to any long terms support needs of staff

The Clerk may need to consider involvement of WireHouse

4.     

Carry out a ‘debrief’ of the incident and complete an Incident Report to document opportunities for improvement and any lessons identified

Report to all Councillors

5.     

Review this Continuity Plan in light of lessons learned from incident and the response to it

Implement recommendations for improvement and update this Plan.

6.     

Publicise that there is now ‘business as usual’

Contact all stakeholders

  • Reinstate phone line
  • Post message on social media/website

7. Contacts

7.1 Separate to this document, the Clerk will maintain contact details for services used in the operation of the Council, such as banking, insurance and health and safety.