Guidance

National Recovery Guidance

Guidance primarily aimed at local responders and developed in line with the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) on recovering from an emergency in the UK.

The National Recovery Guidance was produced in 2007 by the National Recovery Working Group (NRWG), as commissioned by ministers. New material is added to it regularly, as new information and guidance is produced and new case studies and lessons are identified.

Definitions

The National Recovery Guidance has been developed in line with the following Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) definitions.

Emergency

An event or situation that threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK or the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK. To constitute an emergency, an event or situation must additionally require the implementation of special arrangements by one or more Category 1 responder.

Response

Response encompasses the actions taken to deal with the immediate effects of an emergency. In many scenarios, it is likely to be relatively short and to last for a matter of hours or days – rapid implementation of arrangements for collaboration, co-ordination and communication are, therefore, vital. Response encompasses the effort to deal not only with the direct effects of the emergency itself (eg fighting fires, rescuing individuals) but also the indirect effects (eg disruption, media interest).

Recovery

The process of rebuilding, restoring and rehabilitating the community following an emergency.

Find out more about Emergency Response and Recovery guidance.

Updates

Date Update Description
31 January 2015 Strategic National Guidance: The decontamination of buildings, infrastructure and open environment exposed to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear materials This guidance has been revised following a consultation between February and March 2013. All links have been updated, recent changes to the names and structures of organisations have been reflected and various other changes have been made to improve the information.
25 March 2013 Gold officer recovery workshop Post-event report from the Somerset Local Authorities Civil Contingencies Partnership’s one day workshop for gold officers
30 November 2012 2012 Voluntary Sector Civil Protection Forum Report and associated papers from the forum
21 November 2012 UK Recovery Handbook for Biological Incidents Guidance from HPA added
21 November 2012 Exercising Recovery (Staffordshire CCU – Exercise DARNAY and Exercise RAVEN recovery) Case study discussing the issues relating to the challenges of carrying out a recovery exercise
4 October 2012 Topic sheet on social media A new topic sheet which provides some background, policy and guidance on this developing area
12 September 2012 Topic sheet on recovery from a CBRN incident Following a number of requests, Defra - the lead government department for CBRN recovery - have produced a topic sheet which brings together the range of information available on recovering from a CBRN incident.
4 September 2012 Topic sheet on site clearance The topic sheet has been updated to take account of the updated Annex A of Guidance on Development of a Site Clearance Capability in England and Wales and also the publication of the London Structural Collapse Response and Recovery Plan.
7 August 2012 Summer floods 2012 LRFs should be aware of the insurance industry’s request to be involved in relevant meetings and conference calls relating to flooding incidents.
26 July 2012 Strategic National Guidance: The decontamination of buildings, infrastructure and open environment exposed to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear materials This guidance gives basic information on the decontamination and remediation that may be required following a deliberate or accidental release in the UK. The guidance has been revised and updated following a consultation in December 2011.
7 June 2012 UK Recovery Handbook for Chemical Incidents Guidance from Public Health England added
7 June 2013 UK Recovery Handbook for Radiation Incidents Guidance from Public Health England added
12 March 2012 Voluntary sector New topic sheet added
20 February 2012 Nuclear Emergency Planning Liaison Group guidance Guidance from DECC added – see chapters 16 and 17 on recovery
16 January 2012 Cornwall Council incident impact assessment: decision making tool Cornwall Council is happy to share this tool with other councils or organisations who might find it helpful
16 January 2012 Cornwall Council Impact Assessment Completion Guidelines As above

Publication of the guidance

During the period in which the National Recovery Guidance has been produced, there have been a number of emergencies that have involved extensive recovery operations and deepened our understanding of the topic. In particular, the lessons identified from the summer 2007 flooding and which resulted in the Pitt Review (published in June 2008), following which case studies were provided.

Updates

On publication, the information included in the guidance is accurate and up-to-date to the best of our knowledge, but if you spot something you believe to be an error, please contact Nick Brown (nick.brown@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk).

The National Recovery Guidance will be updated as necessary. Additional case studies will be added as and when they are produced.

If there are any issues that you would like to be included in the guidance, or if you think that you could provide a relevant recovery case study, please email Nick Brown (nick.brown@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk).

National Recovery guidance: case studies

Please note that these case studies express the viewpoint of one organisation only and have not been independently audited. Government funding to deal with emergencies is determined on a case by case basis, therefore, the funding outlined in these case studies is not a guarantee that similar funding will be available to deal with emergencies in the future.

Additional case studies are gratefully received. If you think that you could provide a relevant recovery case study, please use the revised Community resilience case study template (MS Word Document, 57 KB) which provides a structure for you to record the information. Please do not feel you have to populate every section - they are suggested headings only. To help you with the process we have developed guidance notes (PDF, 66.1 KB, 2 pages). When finalised please email to Nick Brown.

Name and date Topic covered in case study
Incidents    
Aberfan, 21 October 1966 Commemoration  
  Financial support for individuals  
  Inquiries  
  Needs of people - health  
Avian influenza (H5N1) outbreak at Bernard Matthews site, 2 February 2007 Animal health and welfare  
  Working with the media  
Boscastle flooding, 16 August 2004 Community engagement  
  Historic environment  
  Repairs to domestic properties  
Buncefield fire, 11 December 2005 Community engagement  
  Data protection and sharing  
  Dealing with insurance issues  
  Dealing with waste  
  Displaced communities  
  Economic and business recovery  
  Environmental pollution and decontamination  
  Financial impact on local councils  
  Financial support for individuals  
  Impact on local council performance targets  
  Investigations and prosecutions  
  Needs of people – non-health  
  Recovery evaluation and lessons identified processes  
  Recovery structures and processes  
  Repairs to domestic properties  
  VIP visits and involvement  
  Working with the media  
Buscot and Coleshill Estate flooding, 20 July 2007 Historic environment  
  Repairs to domestic properties  
Calke Abbey flooding, 15 June 2007 Historic environment  
Camberwell fire (Lakanal), London, 3 July 2009 Commemoration  
  Needs of people - non health  
  Dealing with waste  
  Displaced communities  
  Financial support  
Carlisle flooding, 8 January 2005 Data protection and sharing  
  Dealing with insurance issues  
  Displaced communities  
  Financial support for individuals  
  Impact assessments  
  Impact on local council performance targets  
  Needs of people – non-health  
  Recovery structures and processes  
  Repairs to domestic properties  
Cumbria flooding 2009 Access to and security of sites  
  Economic and business recovery  
  Financial support for individuals  
  Historic environment  
  Needs of people - health  
  Needs of people - non-health  
  Transport  
  Utilities  
  Dealing with waste  
Flooding in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, June/July 2007 restoration fund Economy and business recovery  
  Financial Impact on local councils  
Flooding in Yorkshire and the Humber, June 2007 Damaged school buildings  
  Financial support for individuals  
  Financial impact on local councils  
  Impact assessments  
  Needs of people - health  
  Needs of people – non-health  
  Recovery structures and processes  
  ‘After the Rain’ - Hull flood study  
Foot and Mouth Disease, 2001 Animal health and welfare  
  Economic and business recovery  
Hexham flooding and loss of water supply, 8 January 2005 Utilities  
Indian Ocean tsunami, 26 December 2004 Coroner’s inquests  
  Data protection and sharing  
  Mass fatalities  
  UK residents affected by overseas emergencies  
  Financial support for individuals  
Kensal Rise tornado, 7 December 2006 Dealing with insurance issues  
Kent earthquake, 28 April 2007 Repairs to domestic properties  
Ladbroke Grove train crash, 5 October 1999 Coroner’s inquests  
  Inquiries  
Lebanon - evacuation of British and dual nationality citizens, 19 July 2006 Non-resident UK nationals returning from overseas emergencies  
Leeds post 7 July 2005 London bombings Community cohesion  
  VIP visits and involvement  
Lewes flooding, 12 October 2000 Community engagement  
  Dealing with insurance issues  
  Economic and business recovery  
  Environmental pollution and decontamination  
  Financial support for individuals  
  Historic environment  
  Mutual aid  
  Needs of people – non-health  
  Repairs to domestic properties  
Litvinenko Polonium incident, November 2006 Environmental pollution and decontamination  
London bombings, 7 July 2005 Community cohesion  
  Coroner’s inquests  
  Financial support for individuals  
  Needs of people – non-health  
Manchester bombing, 15 June 1996 Access to and security of sites  
  Community engagement  
  Site clearance  
Marchioness, 20 August 1989 Coroner’s inquests  
  Inquiries  
Msc Napoli, 19 January 2007 Transport  
  Working with the media  
Sea Empress Oil Spill, Milford Haven, 15 February 1996 Environmental pollution and decontamination  
  Dealing with waste  
Exercises    
Exercise DARNAY and Exercise RAVEN recovery (Staffordshire) October 2011/February 2012 - Training and exercising Training and exercising  
Exercise Little Owl Two (West Midlands Police) 30th March 2010 Training and exercising  
Exercise Heron 4 (Lancashire) 5th November 2009 Training and exercising  
  The role of elected members  
Exercise Watertight II (North Wales Resilience Forum) 22nd October 2009 Training and exercising  
Exercise Naval (Greater Manchester LRF) 17 July 2008 Training and exercising  
Exercises ReAvon and Heron (Lancashire), 17 February 2005 and 1 February 2007 Training and exercising  
Exercise Reassure (Cumbria), 7 June 2005 Training and exercising  
Sunderland community cohesion, 13 May 2005 Community cohesion  
Planning    
Norfolk Community Foundation Disaster Appeal Fund Financial support for individuals  
Published 24 June 2013