UK Resilience

Civil Contingencies Act

Background

The Civil Contingencies Act, and accompanying non-legislative measures, will deliver a single framework for civil protection in the United Kingdom capable of meeting the challenges of the twenty-first century. The Act is separated into two substantive parts: local arrangements for civil protection (Part 1) and emergency powers (Part 2).

Part 1

Part 1 of the Act and supporting Regulations and statutory guidance Emergency Preparedness establish a clear set of roles and responsibilities for those involved in emergency preparation and response at the local level. The Act divides local responders into two categories, imposing a different set of duties on each.

Those in Category 1, are those organisations at the core of the response to most emergencies (e.g. emergency services, local authorities, NHS bodies). Category 1 responders are subject to the full set of civil protection duties. They will be required to:

• Assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning;
• Put in place emergency plans;
• Put in place Business Continuity Management arrangements;
• Put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency;
• Share information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination;
• Co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency; and
• Provide advice and assistance to businesses and voluntary organisations about business continuity management (Local Authorities only).

Category 2 organisations (e.g. Health and Safety Executive, transport and utility companies). These "co-operating bodies" are less likely to be involved in the heart of planning work but will be heavily involved in incidents that affect their sector. Category 2 responders have a lesser set of duties - co-operating and sharing relevant information with other Category 1 and 2 responders.

Category 1 and 2 organisations will come together to form Local Resilience Forums (based on police areas) which will help co-ordination and co-operation between responders at the local level.

The bulk of Part 1 of the Act was brought into force in November 2005 (the duty on local authorities to provide advice and assistance to business and voluntary organisations about business continuity management commences in May 2006).

Part 2

Part 2 of The Act updates the 1920 Emergency Powers Act to reflect the developments in the intervening

• The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 [External website]

years and the current and future risk profile. It allows for the making of temporary special legislation (emergency regulations) to help deal with the most serious of emergencies. The use of emergency powers is a last resort option and planning arrangements at the local level should not assume that emergency powers will be made available. Their use is subject to a robust set of safeguards - they can only be deployed in exceptional circumstances. More information is set out in the Emergency Powers section of this site.

Part 2 of the Act was brought into force in December 2004.

Key Documents

• Category 2 Responders - Overview of sectors and emergency planning arrangements

• Civil Contingencies Act: a short guide (Revised) [PDF, 8 pages, 327KB]

• Explanatory Notes to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 [External website]

• The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 (Contingency Planning) Regulations 2005 [PDF, 30 pages, 551KB] - These are the regulations which support Part 1 of the Act.

• Emergency Preparedness - .pdf files - The statutory guidance which supports Part 1 of the Act.

• Emergency Response and Recovery - .pdf files - The non-statutory guidance which supports Part 1 of the Act.

• Civil Contingencies Act 2004: devolution concordat with Scottish Ministers [PDF, 4 pages, 104KB]

• Civil Contingencies Act 2004: concordat between the UK Government and the Welsh Assembly Government [PDF, 4 pages, 107KB]

Key Bulletins on implementation

• Civil Contingencies Act 2004 - Identifying and Disseminating Good Practice - Article by Dan Greaves, Head of the Local Response and Civil Contingencies Act Team, CCS. Originally published in Blueprint, the magazine of the Emergency Planning Society [PDF 123KB, 5 pages].

• Civil Contingencies Act 2004: Performance Assessment Frameworks Category 1 responders' performance against the duties mandated by the Act is now integrated into existing mainstream performance assessment frameworks. This note sets out the arrangements as to how each sector will be assessed. [PDF, 121KB, 8 pages]

• 2006 Community Action Programme in the field of Civil Protection [PDF, 2 pages, 75KB]

• The Impact of Police Restructuring on Local Resilience Forums
  • Letter to Stakeholders, 9 Dec 2005 [PDF, 1 page, 67KB]
  • Home Office Written Ministerial Statement [PDF, 3 pages, 81KB]
  • Home Office briefing note [PDF, 2 pages, 45KB]

• The impact of the Act on social services
  • Association of Directors of Social Services Bulletin [PDF, 4 pages, 69KB] - 13 October 2005

• Publication of Emergency Response and Recovery
  • Letter to stakeholders, 23 September [PDF, 3 pages, 67KB]

• The inclusion of civil protection under the Beacon Scheme for local authorities
  • Round 8 Letter to Stakeholders, 21 March 2006 [PDF, 2 pages, 88KB]
  • Letter to Stakeholders, 6 Sept 2005 [PDF, 1 page, 46KB]

• The laying of Regulations under Part 1 of the Act and the publication of Emergency Preparedness
  • Letter to Stakeholders, 28 July 2005 [PDF, 2 pages, 107KB]

• The inclusion of Strategic Health Authorities in Category 2
  • Letter to stakeholders, 22 June 2005 [PDF, 1 page, 97KB]

Other documents, links and bulletins

• The Emergency Planning College (EPC) [External website] is the leading provider of training for emergency preparedness, attracting delegates with responsibility for preventing, planning for, responding to or recovering from a major incident. The EPC runs an Introduction to Civil Protection course [External website], as well as courses on each of the specific duties under the Act, and on a range of other civil protection topics.

• Documents and bulletins from earlier stages of the process, including material from Parliament and public consultations, can be found in the Civil Contingencies Act Archive.

Contacting the Civil Contingencies Act and Local Response Capability Team

• Contact details for the Civil Contingencies Act and Local Response Capability Team.

[return to top]