Business Continuity and Emergency Closure

1. Purpose

For many of our learners a day at Care Cove is the safest, most structured part of the week, so a closure is a safeguarding risk as well as an inconvenience. This policy sets out how we keep critical activities running, when and how we close, how we stay in touch while closed, and how we recover.

2. Scope

This policy covers Care Cove Alternative Provision at 37 Townhead Street, every AP learner whoever commissions their place, all staff and partners, and Care Cove Connect. Short Breaks and Dreams Are Real CIC share the building; where an incident affects them too, the Director coordinates with their leads.

3. Law and guidance

• Our contracts with commissioning local authorities, including the promise to tell families, schools and the commissioning local authority within 2 hours of an unplanned closure.

• Civil Contingencies Act 2004 principles for planning and response.

• DfE guidance on emergency planning and response for education, childcare and children's social care settings.

• UKHSA guidance on health protection in children and young people settings.

• UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, for data breaches and cyber incidents.

4. Roles and responsibilities

• The Director is the incident lead. The Director decides whether to close, leads the response, tells the commissioning local authority, and owns this plan.

• The Head of AP is deputy incident lead and decides on closure if the Director cannot be reached. The Head of AP runs the operational response on site.

• The DSL keeps the safeguarding priority list, leads welfare contact with vulnerable learners and makes sure safeguarding never stops.

• The Clinical Advisor advises on health risks, infection and learners with medical needs.

• The Administrator runs the communication cascade, keeps the paper fallback pack and offline contact sheet up to date, and records the timeline.

• The SWMC Chair is told of any closure or critical incident and provides independent oversight of the review.

• All staff know this plan, keep their contact details up to date and follow instructions in an incident.

5. Critical activities

6. Risks and responses

6.1 Loss of premises

If 37 Townhead Street cannot be used (for example after a fire, flood, structural problem, police cordon or loss of a utility), staff evacuate or keep learners safe as the Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid policy sets out. The Director decides whether to close (section 7) or move to a pre-arranged alternative venue for small groups, or community venues used as outdoor classrooms for a short disruption. For a short disruption on the day, the group may continue at one of our outdoor classroom venues where risk assessments allow, while arrangements are made. The alternative venue may be used for small groups only if its risk assessment covers the activity.

6.2 Utilities failure

If we lose power, water, heating or gas, the Head of AP assesses whether it is safe to stay open. We close all or part of the building if there is no running water for toilets and handwashing, no safe lighting or fire alarm, or rooms cannot be kept at a reasonable temperature. If only the kitchen is affected, breakfast and lunch are provided from back-up supplies.

6.3 IT or Care Cove Connect outage

Care Cove Connect is hosted in the UK, and backup and restore are tested (section 12). If it is unavailable:

1. Staff switch to the paper fallback register and paper safeguarding form, kept securely in the fallback pack.

2. Any safeguarding concern is reported to the DSL in person or by phone immediately, as usual.

3. The Administrator keeps a printed emergency contact, allergy and medical summary sheet securely, refreshed every week and shredded when replaced, so staff can reach families and manage medical needs.

4. When Connect is back, every paper record is entered the same day where possible, marked as back-entered with the original time, and the paper is kept securely until the entry is checked.

An outage longer than 2 hours in a delivery day is reported to the Director and reviewed.

6.4 Staff shortage

We never cut ratios, therapy, the meal or transport. If staff are absent:

• First Class Teachers provides pre-vetted cover within 24 hours. The agency confirms checks in writing, cover staff are on the Single Central Record, and nobody works unsupervised before our own checks are complete;

• the Head of AP and Director step into the timetable where needed, and core lessons stay led by a teacher with QTS;

• DSL cover follows the mapped cover rota;

• if the provision still cannot be staffed safely, the Director closes a group or the provision as a last resort, and remote contact begins (section 10).

6.5 Severe weather

The Head of AP checks Met Office warnings and travel conditions early on any day with a forecast of snow, ice, flooding or extreme heat. A decision to close is made by 07:30 wherever possible, so families know before learners set off. Learners are never sent home early unless a parent or carer knows and the learner can get home safely.

6.6 Pandemic or infectious disease

We follow UKHSA guidance and any government instructions. The Clinical Advisor advises on infection control and contacts the local UKHSA health protection team about any outbreak. If we must close or reduce attendance, we prioritise vulnerable learners for any on-site places allowed and keep up remote contact and therapy for everyone else.

6.7 Supplier failure

• Meals: if Food Fusion cannot deliver, we prepare a hot meal in our own kitchen from stock, or buy from another registered food business, always with full allergen information. The meal is never dropped.

• Transport: we use another approved operator, or staff collect learners under the Transport and Escorting policy.

• Counselling: My Solution Wellbeing uses its associate bench so the weekly hour continues.

• Cover staff: if First Class Teachers cannot supply, the Director seeks another vetted source, with the commissioner's written consent where subcontracting is involved.

6.8 Critical incident or death

A critical incident includes the death or serious injury of a learner, staff member or parent, a serious assault, or a community incident that affects our learners. The Director leads the response, works with the emergency services, tells families personally and promptly, notifies the commissioning local authority as a serious incident and tells the SWMC Chair. The DSL coordinates safeguarding actions, My Solution Wellbeing supports learners and staff, and a same-day debrief takes place. Nobody speaks to the media or posts on social media about an incident. Any public statement is agreed with the commissioning local authority first, and we never mention our contracts or use a commissioning local authority's name or logo without its written consent. Reportable deaths and injuries are reported under RIDDOR, including an immediate phone call to the commissioning local authority's Health and Safety Officer, as the Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid policy sets out.

6.9 Cyber attack and data breach

Anyone who suspects a cyber attack or data breach tells the Director immediately. The Director contains it (for example, disconnecting a device, resetting passwords or suspending accounts) and follows the breach procedure in the Data Protection, Retention and Information Sharing policy. The commissioning local authority is told immediately, and the ICO within 72 hours where the breach is reportable. The SWMC reviews every breach. If systems are unavailable, the outage arrangements in section 6.3 apply.

7. Deciding to close

The Director decides whether to close all or part of the provision. If the Director cannot be reached, the Head of AP decides. The decision-maker considers the safety of learners and staff, whether ratios and DSL cover can be met, the state of the premises, and advice from the emergency services or UKHSA. They consult the DSL about the impact on vulnerable learners. Closure is a last resort: we first consider a partial opening, an alternative venue or bringing in cover. Every decision, with its reasons and times, is recorded.

8. Telling families, schools and commissioning local authorities

Families, referring schools and the commissioning local authority are told within 2 hours of any unplanned closure. The Director is responsible for making sure this happens, and the Administrator runs the cascade in Appendix A:

• Families: a phone call from the key mentor or the Administrator, followed by a message through the Family portal on Care Cove Connect. Where a learner is already on the way, we make sure someone knows where they are and that they are safe.

• Referring schools: a phone call or email to the named contact, and a note on the Partner portal.

• The commissioning local authority: the Director emails and phones the contract manager, and tells any other commissioner.

• Others: transport operators, Food Fusion, My Solution Wellbeing, First Class Teachers and any employer hosting a learner on placement.

Every message says what has happened, what it means for the learner, what will happen next and when we will update. Times of each contact are recorded on Care Cove Connect. Closure days are recorded as closures, not learner absences.

9. Alternative venues

Our alternative venue arrangements are: a pre-arranged alternative venue for small groups, and community venues already used as outdoor classrooms for short sessions. Any alternative venue needs a risk assessment, suitable toilets, and space for regulation and therapy that meets our supervision standards. The commissioning local authority is told before learners attend one.

10. Remote contact with vulnerable learners on closure days

The DSL keeps a safeguarding priority list on Care Cove Connect, rating every learner by risk and reviewed each week. It covers, for example, learners with a child protection or child in need plan, learners at risk of exploitation, and learners with high clinical risk. On any closure day:

1. The DSL or key mentor phones every learner on the highest-priority list, and their parent or carer, in the morning.

2. Key mentors phone every other learner and family the same day.

3. If there is no contact with a high-priority learner, the DSL decides on next steps the same day, which may include a home visit by two staff, contact with the learner's social worker, a referral to the Sheffield Safeguarding Hub or a request for a police safe and well check.

4. Counsellors offer therapy by phone or video where it is clinically appropriate.

5. Learning tasks are shared through the Student app or as paper packs.

Every contact, attempt and decision is recorded on Care Cove Connect. Safeguarding concerns raised during a closure follow the Safeguarding and Child Protection policy.

11. Recovery and lessons learned

The Director agrees the reopening plan, tells everyone in the cascade when we will reopen, and makes sure missed therapy, assessments and reviews are caught up. Within 5 working days of reopening, the Director holds a staff debrief and records what worked and what will change. The debrief report goes to the SWMC and to the commissioning local authority's contract manager, and this plan is updated.

12. Testing the plan

• Before we start working with learners, tabletop exercises cover a disclosure, a medical emergency, a violent incident, a missing learner and a system outage. After that, a tabletop exercise is held at least once a year, always including a system outage.

• Backup and restore of Care Cove Connect is tested at least once a term.

• The contact cascade is tested each term, checking that numbers are current.

• The paper fallback pack is checked each half term.

Each test is recorded with lessons and actions, and actions are tracked to completion.

13. Insurance

We keep the insurances our contracts require, including employer's liability, public liability and professional indemnity insurance. The Director tells our insurer promptly about any incident that may lead to a claim. At each renewal, the Director checks whether business interruption and cyber cover are needed and records the decision.

14. Force majeure

If an event outside our control, such as a natural disaster, pandemic, fire or terrorist attack, prevents delivery, we tell the commissioning local authority in writing as soon as reasonably practicable (the start date, likely duration and effect) and use all reasonable endeavours to limit the impact, then tell it in writing as soon as the event is over.

15. Monitoring and review

The Director reports closures, incidents, tests and actions to the SWMC each term. The plan, including Appendix A, is reviewed every year, after any real incident or exercise, and after any change to premises, systems, suppliers or our contracts. It is ratified by the SWMC and available to the commissioning local authority on request at any time.

16. Related policies

• 01 Safeguarding and Child Protection
• 11 Attendance and Children Missing Education
• 14 Therapeutic Practice and Clinical Governance
• 15 Health and Safety, including Fire and First Aid
• 16 Transport and Escorting
• 17 Data Protection, Retention and Information Sharing
• 24 Supporting Medical Needs and Administering Medicines
• 25 Food Safety, Allergens and Nutrition
• 26 Off-site Learning and Educational Visits
• 28 Site Security, Visitors and CCTV

Appendix A: Contact cascade

Phone numbers for staff, partners and suppliers are kept securely on the confidential contact sheet, not in this policy.

Key contacts:

Document control and ratification

This policy is signed off by the Designated Safeguarding Lead and the Head of Alternative Provision, and ratified by the Social Work Management Committee. It is reviewed every year, or sooner after an incident or a change in law, statutory guidance or contract requirements, and it is available to any commissioning local authority on request.