Business Resilience & Continuity
Have you thought about resilience and continuity planning for your business?
We have recently introduced a new service for Oxfordshire businesses, called the CODE RED – Oxfordshire Business Resilience Scheme.
This scheme is part of a pilot project, that brings together OxLEP Business, the Berkshire Growth Hub, Buckinghamshire Business First and Thames Valley Local Resilience Forum to look at how by working together, we can support local businesses. The pilot is funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Innovation Fund 2023/2024, until April 2025.
The scheme is open to all businesses and will provide you with information and advice via occasional SMS messages. The aim is to support you to be more resilient for emergencies and also for changes in the climate, by helping you to plan, prepare, be ready and adapt, so that any risk and impact on your business is minimised.
Incidents such as floods, extreme temperatures, power outages and cyber-attacks can happen at any time, can be local as well as national, and could have significant implications if your business is not prepared. We want to help you to be more resilient, so that you and your employees can continue doing what you do best.
Messages will be complementary and additional to existing schemes such as the National Severe Weather Warning Service, Met Office Hazard Manager and Environment Agency flood alerts.
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of businesses have suffered disruption from an IT or telecom outage in the last 12 months
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of businesses in the UK fail to re-open after a flood
Sign up for this service
If you would like to sign up for this service to receive text messages with information and advice for your business, please click below to fill in the simple sign-up form.
Withdrawing from this service
If you are in receipt of this service, but would like to opt out, you can do so by completing the opt-out form.
Would you like to be more involved?
We are looking for ‘Business Champions’, happy to help to shape the service, to make sure it is as beneficial for businesses as possible. Please email: [email protected] for more information.
As this is a new scheme, if you have suggestions for what information you would like to see included in alerts, do let us know: [email protected]. If you have stories of how your business has shown resilience or used continuity planning that you would be happy for us to share, please do also get in touch.
Find out more:
This short two-minute video from the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) explains what business continuity means and why it is important.
Useful links:
Oxfordshire County Council Business Continuity Planning Guidance
Advice for businesses on preparing for emergencies, including a useful 10-minute self-assessment for your business to highlight issues to consider and help you to prepare
Oxfordshire Fire & Rescue Service
More business continuity information
Oxfordshire Flood Toolkit
Understand the risk and how to protect yourself
Business Continuity Institute
Champions business resilience and continuity
Federation for Small Businesses
How to create a business continuity plan
Q&A
I am new to business resilience and continuity, what do they mean?
The Business Continuity Institute define continuity as “having a plan to deal with difficult situations, so your organisation can continue to function with as little disruption as possible”. Resilience is defined by the International Standards Organisation as “the ability to absorb and adapt in a changing environment”.
What is a business continuity plan?
A document that sets out step-by-step what actions should be taken before events to prevent risks to your business, and also during and after events, so that you can continue to operate and recover with minimum disruption.
Why should my business think about climate change adaptation?
The climate is changing, and could mean physical risks for your business, as well as for your business processes, and the health and wellbeing of your employees. Being ready means understanding the vulnerabilities so that you can reduce any risks and your business can continue to operate and grow.
Apart from SMS messages, what support is available to help me in my business?
The Business Continuity Institute has a wealth of resources online, some available free by registering for a web account. See also the links to resources above. If you would like more information, to talk with an advisor or support with drafting a plan for your business, please email [email protected].
What will happen after the pilot?
Continuation after April 2025 is subject to funding.
How will my information be stored and used?
In line with OxLEP’s Privacy Policy, we will only process your details within this pilot for the purposes of sending you SMS messages and where we are required to do so by our funders. After the pilot ends, we will not store your information for any longer than the minimum period necessary, unless you have previously agreed for us to do so. You can opt out from receiving SMS messages at any time by emailing [email protected].
