UK Resilience
Last updated: 03 November 2008
Business and economic recovery following an emergency can be a complex and potentially long term task. More than 15 months after the Buncefield oil storage depot explosion, several businesses had failed and others were under severe pressure to survive, directly as a result of the fire. The local unemployment rate was higher than before the incident and it was not possible to state how many people or businesses had been deterred from moving to the area as a part of its previously expected growth. Manchester City Centre took years to fully recover after the large IRA bomb in 1996.
The 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak cost the North West of England approx. £550m in lost local outputs. The second Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in 2007 is estimated as costing £10m per week to the farming sector – the effects fall nationwide. In some non-infected areas, the restrictions may cause some livestock farmers to lose between 60 and 90% of their annual income, and breeding cycles may take up to 3 years to recover.
The economy constantly changes, whether that be as a result of, for example, a poor crop yield, the identification of new technologies, or changes in government. Businesses too must constantly evolve to meet the demands of a changing market place. The task of recovering businesses and the economy is not, therefore, the same as recovering a water supply system.
Recovery Co-ordinating Groups (RCGs) should establish the aims and objectives of the recovery phase at the outset.
After emergencies, the recovery phase will often target the restoration of an affected area to its previous condition, i.e. normalisation. However, there may be a strategic opportunity to go beyond 'recovery' and achieve longer-term regeneration and economic development – the approach taken in Carlisle after the floods in 2005 as well as in many other areas.
RCGs should make recommendations to elected Local Authority members on the opportunities for longer term regeneration and economic development at an early stage of the recovery phase based on consideration of the extent of the damage and the cost of recovery.
Lessons learned from a numbers of incidents show that the strength of the relationship between the local business community and the authorities is often key to success. This strength is most effective when business recovery efforts are driven by existing organisations rather than by the creation of new ones.
Every year, nearly one in five businesses suffers a major disruption, and planning to deal with those disruptions is widely regarded as good business sense. Many businesses will already have business continuity plans in place to deal with sudden commercial risk. These may include events such as the failure of critical suppliers, an unexpected bad debt, industrial action or the discovery of a serious fault in a product or process.
The Chartered Management Institute's ninth report on Business Continuity Management (published March 2008) reveals that many UK organisations recognise a need to guard against disruption and face increasing pressure to do so.
However the survey, which is supported by the Cabinet Office, also shows that only 47 per cent of organisations across the UK have a business continuity plan (BCP) – a figure that has barely changed since 2002 (45 per cent). Major differences also exist between organisation types, with BCPs most apparent in the public sector (62 per cent) and amongst listed companies (55 per cent), compared to only 40 per cent of private and voluntary organisations.
The vast majority of businesses and their supporting bodies are neither designated responders nor required to act under the Civil Contingencies Act. Building the relationships through briefings, involvement in valued exercises and meetings before any incident occurs, has paid dividends when trying to recover from actual emergencies.
The information provided in this sheet is meant as guidance to responders and the business community alike. It does not provide any guarantee of the support which is, or may be made, available.
Properties that have been particularly badly affected by an emergency may be taken off the rating lists which would mean they have no rates liability. This is something that would be decided by valuation officers of the Valuation Office Agency, and the billing authority (the local authority with responsibility for calculating rates liability and sending out rates demands) would be notified so that they can adjust liability accordingly.
In other cases where non-domestic properties have not been removed from the rating lists, billing authorities can decide whether the properties should be liable for empty property rates – no rates liability for the first three months the property is empty, followed by a 50% reduction in liability – and/or whether to exercise their discretionary powers under Section 49 of the Local Government Finance Act 1998 to grant hardship rate relief in respect of occupied or empty properties.
Hardship relief can be up to 100% of the rate liability. 75% of the cost is met by central government (in other words, less revenue goes into the Communities and Local Government (CLG) centrally managed non-domestic rating pool). The remaining 25% has to be met by the local authority through council tax, so the authority has to consider the impact that granting hardship relief would have on council tax payers in deciding whether or not to grant it.
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Such is the nature of business support that each region, or major city, will have its own specific economic and business advice organisations. This sheet cannot identify every organisation. It will instead identify and describe the roles and responsibilities of four national organisations:
Each Local Authority is required to provide economic and business advice and support. Among the activities the Local Authority is likely to be positively engaged in supporting are:
The British Chamber of Commerce is a private organisation with a paid membership. It is not, therefore, a recognised responder. It is included in this sheet, however, because of its recognised role among local businesses, and the significant contribution it has made in previous incidents such as Buncefield and the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.
Each local Chamber of Commerce is a part of the British Chambers of Commerce. This is a national organisation, regionally based, with 56 local chambers. It has a multi-sectoral approach with broad representation across Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Every Chamber sits at the heart of its local business community but achieves national reach and representation.
Members of the Chamber of Commerce can receive the following support:
Business Link is not a designated responder as directed by the Civil Contingencies Act. It does, however, play a key role in business support and has made a significant contribution to recovery during previous incidents.
The Business Link service is a crucial part of the Government's campaign to promote enterprise and to make the UK the best place in the world to start and grow a business. Business Link is available locally, quality assured regionally, and organised nationally to clear national standards. It is primarily funded by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), supported by a number of other government departments, agencies and local authorities.
Business Link provides information, advice and support to businesses and individuals to help them start, maintain and grow a business. Rather than providing all the advice and help itself, it fast-tracks customers to the expert help they need. This role will be especially important post an emergency.
Business Link will fast-track customers to support and advice on the following:
The United Kingdom employs a system of RDAs to:
Consequently, each RDA will be very interested and involved in business and economic recovery.
The RDAs are not required responders as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act. They are included in this topic, however, because of their nationally directed role and because of the contribution they have made to recovery post previous incidents.
RDAs provide support and advice on the following:
One of the important roles RDAs can assist in is the marketing of a region nationally and internationally.
In addition to the four bodies already mentioned, Trade Bodies must be considered. Depending upon the nature of the emergency, valuable advice and support may be available from national trade bodies or organisations. A good example where this has worked is the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak, when farming and tourist bodies provided valuable support.
Business Link deals primarily with England. The service to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is delivered through different organisations (see Contacts below).
In Wales, the Department for Economy and Transport[External website] leads on economic development and business in Wales.
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In Northern Ireland support and advice to business is provided by district councils and by Invest NI, a Non-Departmental Public Body of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. The requirement under Part 1 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to provide business continuity advice does not apply to district councils in Northern Ireland.
None of the primary organisations described guarantee any funding. All of them are, however, charged with, and positioned to; provide direction and advice about from where funding may be received. This includes access to European funding.
Rural Recovery after Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Christopher Haskins, October 2001
The Report of the Buncefield Community Recovery Taskforce (December 2005 - May 2007) provides a comprehensive overview of the community recovery to date, including economic issues.
Every year nearly one in five businesses suffers a major disruption, and planning to deal with those disruptions is widely regarded as good business sense. Effective business continuity planning is critical to ensuring that the essential functions of your business can carry on despite an emergency.
Many businesses will already have plans to deal with sudden commercial risk. These may include events such as the failure of critical suppliers, an unexpected bad debt, industrial action or the discovery of a serious fault in a product or process. Planning for the aftermath of a major incident is very similar.
The existing British Standard BS 25999-1 sets out six elements to the Business Continuity Management process:
In addition to the Business Continuity advice provided by the organisations described in Roles and Responsibilities, there are many useful sites which provide valuable advice for businesses in developing their own disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Along with the Insurance Industry, three such useful ones are:
The Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) [External website]
HM Government, Preparing for Emergencies
The Chartered Management Institute paper on Business Continuity Management 2008 [External website] providing facts and figures on BCM.
http://www.britishchambers.org.uk/ [External website]
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home?r.s=m [External website] The link to Business Link also takes you to the links for the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish delivery organisations.
The RDAs are:
OneNorthEast [External website]
Yorkshire Forward [External website]
The NorthWest Regional Development [External website]
Advantage West Midlands [External website]
The East Midlands Development Agency [External website]
The East of England Development Agency [External website]
The SouthWest of England Development Agency [External website]
The SouthEast of England Development Agency [External website]
The London Development Agency [External website]
The Welsh Assembly Government [External website]
Scottish Enterprise [External website]
Invest Northern Ireland [External website]
General enquiries: Cabinet Office, 22 Whitehall, London SW1A 2WH.
Contact: via feedback form.
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