Why does Business Continuity Matter to my Day Nursery?

Could your business survive if you were forced to close?

For a day? two days, three days a week?

At what stage would your parents leave and register somewhere else, when would your reputation be in tatters, how long could you pay wages without an income?

A week, two weeks a month?

According to a Forbes 2023 review, a staggering 89% of businesses face closure within a year after enduring a 5-day Business Continuity incident.

For UK businesses, this statistic is even more alarming, as only 49% have any form of resilience planning in place, most that do are larger businesses, companies with plentiful resources. Not your typical Nursery.

What is a Business Continuity Incident?

A Business Continuity Incident refers to any event that disrupts your regular output or client services. This could include adverse weather, staff shortages, infrastructure failures, IT glitches, or other unforeseen risks that could jeopardize your business.

It’s not just a closure.

Business Continuity planning involves assessing internal and external risks and implementing strategies to prevent such incidents, minimise their impact, and swiftly restore your full operational capacity.

While Business Continuity planning might seem daunting, especially if you haven’t dealt with it before, smaller businesses can become exceptionally resilient. Smaller businesses tend to have streamlined operations, reduced bureaucracy, and a higher level of decision-making autonomy that allow them to respond effectively, adapt and recover efficiently during and after incidents.

Would your team know what to do?

If your Business Continuity Plans are outdated or non-existent, during disruptions you will be relying solely on individual staff to think on their feet and find solutions under pressure. This could be costly especially when you consider that having staff end up in these instances is fully preventable. Proper training and effective Business Continuity Planning empowers your business to manage disruptions seamlessly, avoiding standstills.

Resilience planning and staff training is exceptionally low cost but pays off when disaster inevitably strikes. Beyond operational benefits, robust Business Continuity Planning enhances your reputation, financial stability, and customer relationships.

Who you gonna call?

Do you know when you call Ofsted to report a closure? What about your local authority? At what point does funding be returned? Knowing the answer to all these questions is part of Business Continuity.

Regular reviews of your business’ resilience planning are crucial to effectively prevent, manage and recover from disruptions, ensuring your business remains resilient.

Come and hear Rory Bewer, Business Continuity Consultant talk in Operation Respond on 15 January 2025 at 7 p.m. To access Operation RESPOND join our free Facebook Group here.