What is a Business Continuity Plan?

What is a Business Continuity Plan?

A Business Continuity Plan helps a business or voluntary organisation keep running during and after an incident like a flood, cyberattack, or power outage. According to industry research 75% of businesses without a continuity plan fail within 3 years of a disaster.

It’s not just big businesses that have to think about this. The Department for Media, Culture and Sport’s cyber security breaches survey showed that, in the 2022, 30% of UK charities identified a cyber-attack in the last 12 months. Of those attacks, 38% had an impact on the service with 19% “resulting in a negative outcome”.

Business Continuity Planning is about being prepared for the unexpected so services can continue with minimal disruption. Industry research suggests that 93% of businesses that have a business continuity plan recover faster from disruptions.

Why is Business Continuity Important?

Without a plan, an incident could lead to:

• Loss of income or customers
• Damage to reputation
• Higher insurance costs
• Staffing issues
• Complete business failure
• Impact on service delivery and communities