Resilience Advisor (Major Incidents)

Job Title Resilience Advisor (Business Continuity) Department Environment and Neighbourhoods (E&N Hub) Section or Service Resilience Team Grade Grade G

DESIGNATION: Responsible to: Resilience Manager Employees directly supervised (if applicable): None Family Tree

1. JOB PURPOSE:

• Lead Practitioner for Business Continuity: Support the Executive Management Team (EMT) and Council Directors with business continuity planning. Collaborate across all departments including during incidents and disruptions, ensuring alignment with national and regional guidelines, standards, and best practices.

• Manage Implementation: Awareness and advise as appropriate on the Business Continuity Plans and Procedures across all Directorates in the Council, as well as Disaster Recovery operations within the Council.

• Minimise Impact: Take necessary actions to minimise and control the impact of major business disruptions on the Council.

• Communicate and Coordinate: Maintain the Council’s Business Continuity policy, plan, risk register, and impact analysis. Coordinate the Council’s business continuity planning programme in line with ISO22301 standards and provide advice to local businesses and voluntary organisations as per the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

• Emergency Response: To act as the 24/7 on-call Resilience officer as part of an emergency rota and ‘Tactical Local Authority Liaison Officer (LALO) when coordinating the Council’s response from the incident scene in major and serious incidents in the Borough.

2. DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES:

• Achieve compliance with ISO 22301 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 by communicating and coordinating comprehensive business continuity plans at all levels.

• Ensure the continual effectiveness and compliance of all business continuity plans for critical service areas, business functions, and IT applications, guaranteeing their effectiveness.

• Maintain uninterrupted service delivery during disruptive incidents by coordinating necessary activities and ensuring the Council's operational resilience.

• Provide advice on ways to enhance business continuity plans through collaboration with corporate, departmental, and service levels, mitigating disruption effects to ensure essential services for residents.

• Drive continuous improvement by conducting periodic reviews and tests of business continuity plans and procedures, reporting findings to management, and recommending enhancements.

• Provide the Executive Management Team (EMT) with analysis through annual reviews of the Corporate Business Continuity Strategy and periodic dashboard updates on business continuity activities across the Council.

• Ensure the Council’s Corporate Business Continuity Plan and Corporate Statement of Risk Appetite are up-to-date and integrated within the overall suite of contingency planning documents.

• Optimise organisational resilience by being a lead user of the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) system, ensuring its effective use across departments and services, and collaborating with other corporate services.

• Strengthen the alignment between business continuity and corporate risk management by liaising closely with the Council’s Strategic Risk function.

• Support all Council departments and services in producing, regularly reviewing, testing, and recommending amendments to Service Area Business Continuity Plans, ensuring their effectiveness and consistency with corporate resilience arrangements.

• Make recommendations for enhancements to business continuity plans and procedures across the Council through an annual training and exercise programme, involving external partners as appropriate.

• Empower departmental and service area staff by designing and delivering training sessions and exercises as part of the business continuity training and exercise programme.

• Maintain up-to-date service area plans by managing the administration of the Council business continuity system, the Riskonnect System.

• Contribute to the corporate risk register by linking corporate and departmental/service risks to business continuity plans where appropriate.

• Ensure readiness for significant and major incidents by participating in the Resilience team rota, providing in-person coordination and support during emergencies.

• Act as Tactical LALO during major emergencies, coordinating and leading on the Council’s response and supporting efforts at the incident scene, engaging with the emergency services to make decisions on the Council’s behalf.

• Foster a collaborative and supportive environment by working with and supporting other staff members in the Resilience Team in emergency preparedness and incident response situations.

• Maintain accurate records, prepare agendas, and take minutes of at relevant Resilience and emergency meetings.

• Attend various meetings to represent the Council or team on emergency preparedness, response, and business continuity, and coordinate with internal departments and external organisations.

• Undertake additional duties as required, commensurate with your grade, to support the Council’s resilience and business continuity efforts.

SELECTION CRITERIA/PERSON SPECIFICATION

Job Title: Resilience Advisor (Business Continuity)

Conditions to Note:

Candidates: When completing your application form, please address your answers directly to each of the selection criteria below. This enables the panel to assess your ability to meet each criterion. It is essential that you give at least one example of your ability to meet each of the four Values and Behaviours: Putting Communities First, Respect, Integrity and Working Together.

Recruiting Managers: The following values and behaviours are essential criteria in each post and must be addressed directly by candidates. The Guidance Notes on values and behaviours for managers give example questions to probe candidates in the interview and application stages of the recruitment process.

Values & Behaviours The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has identified four key behaviours and values that should be demonstrated by all council employees. Successful candidates will show the ability to meet these behaviours. Candidates applying for managerial/leadership roles should also demonstrate two additional leadership behaviours.

A Equal Opportunities

• Demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to Council policies in relation to Equal Opportunity, Customer Care and service delivery, and the ability to implement these policies in the workplace.

B Qualifications:

Essential:

• Qualifications gained in Business Continuity Planning and/or training, or Certified Member of the Business Continuity Institute. Support to be fully qualified can be offered (subject to performance) by RBKC

C Skills; Experience and Attitude Essential:

• Knowledge of the contingency planning legislative requirements for local authorities brought about by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and international standard for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) ISO 22301
• Experience of developing business continuity contingency plans and procedures
• Experience of developing, planning, and delivering training and exercises on business continuity to a wide range of people, at all levels and externally to businesses and voluntary organisations
• Ability to assimilate, evaluate and collate information on business continuity planning priorities and resources. Presenting recommendations in clear and concise reports to all levels of stakeholders
• Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, Councillors, residents and the general public, and coordinate work efficiently and effectively with service areas in several locations
• Strong administrative and project management skills, with effectiveness in developing and managing tasks in order to achieve target dates
• Ability to use IT equipment and packages (e.g. Microsoft Office and Outlook, Geographic Information System (GIS) )
• Ability to be responsive and be a leader in emergency response
• Ability to remain calm under pressure when dealing with emergencies
• Self-motivated and able to work on own initiative with minimal supervision
• Ability to work in and develop teams and partnerships in business continuity
• Able to work outside normal office hours on occasions for training, meetings, when responding to emergencies as part of an emergency rota
• Strong organisational and interpersonal skills with ability to react to changing priorities in calm and efficient manner
• Strong analytical, organisational, decision-making and problem-solving skills
• Understand the critical importance of equality, diversity, and inclusion in planning and responding to emergencies.

Our Values & Behaviours D PUTTING COMMUNITIES FIRST

• We put local people at the heart of decision making in everything we do.
• We seek to include and involve: all voices matter.
• We provide quality services that are responsive, effective and efficient.

The following examples are indicators of effective behaviour:

• I actively involve and include the communities that I serve in my work.
• I shall reflect the views of the communities in my daily work.
• I shall improve the service I provide through seeking feedback from others.

Our residents will feel that:

• I have been included
• I can see how my views have been taken into account
• I can see improvements and developments based on my input

E RESPECT

• We listen to everyone and value the personal experiences of people in our communities and of each other.
• We adopt a fair, and involving approach regardless of any way in which an individual is different to us.

The following examples are indicators of effective behaviour:

• I adapt my approach to take account of all differences and cultures in the community and with colleagues.
• I ensure I am equitable and fair by including those who are quiet or may not be able to represent themselves.
• I communicate in a way that is respectful, encourages involvement and meets people’s needs.

Our residents will feel that:

• I feel my culture and background are respected.
• I have confidence that action is being taken.
• I feel I am being treated fairly.

F INTEGRITY

• We act with openness, honesty, compassion, responsibility and humility.
• We let people know what we are doing and communicate why and how decisions have been made.

The following examples are indicators of effective behaviour:

• I demonstrate empathy in my interactions with others.
• I am honest and transparent about the decisions I take.
• I follow through on the actions I say I will take and take ownership for communicating the outcome.

Our residents will feel that:

• I am told when something is not possible and the reasons why are explained to me.
• I feel my perspective is listened to and understood.
• I feel my views are valued

G WORKING TOGETHER

• We work together and in partnership with everyone that has an impact on the lives of our residents.
• We want to understand, learn from each other and continually adapt.

The following example s are indicators of effective behaviour:

• I work with others to provide an effective service for residents, local communities and other departments within the Council.
• I seek ways to work with other departments to deliver a seamless service and find opportunities to improve.
• I seek out opportunities to learn from my colleagues and build on good practice.

Our residents will feel that:

• I can get my issue resolved without being passed around departments.
• I find it easy to access the services that I need.
• I feel the Council is open to new ideas.