Delivering Risk Management Solutions during a Pandemic: 9 June 2021

Our client is one of the UK’s biggest housing associations with a portfolio of over 44,000 homes across the Midlands. The organisation’s constituent companies had previous developed business continuity plans (BCPs), but these were inconsistent around the business, and the Group was concerned that they were not fit for purpose.

Business Need

Following an initial meeting with the Group Insurance Manager and the Assistant Director of Corporate Compliance, a suggested approach to improving business continuity implementation was presented to the Executive Team. Due to the business and travel restrictions put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic, the solution needed to bear this in mind.

Solution

Our proposal to the client consisted of reviewing existing materials, developing an overarching Group crisis management plan (CMP), and relaunching the subject of business continuity management (BCM) within the business. In more detail, we structured the proposed project work and deliverables as follows:

Review of BCP – the ‘new’ framework used to create BCPs within the functional areas were reviewed by the consultant against what is considered ‘best practice’. Following this desk-based review, a set of comments and suggestions for improvements was provided to the client.

Review and challenge of functional BCPs – the BCPs developed for functional areas were reviewed by the consultant, and discussions were held (by telephone / e-mail) with the ‘owner’ of each BCP to both query and challenge aspects of their completed BCP.

Develop Group Crisis Management Plan – sitting over the functional BCPs and controlling and directing the business in the most severe incidents, should be a Group Crisis Management Plan. The consultant developed an initial document from previous experience, and from the previous overarching BCPs within each of the constituent companies. This first draft was discussed and worked on further between the consultant and a client representative, prior to review and sign-off by senior management.

Business Continuity ‘relaunch’ – presentations were developed for and given to the Executive Team and Board of Directors, summarising the subject area, approach, framework, roles & responsibilities. Such presentations provide assurance that business continuity arrangements and the client have been brought up to date with the current organisational structure and personnel, and will provide a reminder of senior management responsibility in this area.

Value and next steps

The scope of this initial ‘review’ project was delivered entirely remotely. Once travel restrictions were lifted, the next stage of ‘validating’ the client’s BCM programme was to conduct a scenario-based exercise which puts the theory into practice.