Prepare your community

No!

While the LRF works mostly with Town and Parish Councils, any community group can work to keep their area resilient. This includes faith groups, special interest groups or even social clubs!

Your Community Emergency Plan will be available to the Emergency Planning Team, so if there is an emergency in your area, you may be contacted to asked if you can work alongside us in a response – by sharing information of giving us access to buildings or resources

Your Community Emergency Plan will also be available to your District/Borough Emergency Control Centre, so we can act as a point of contact and provide advice and guidance

Finally in an emergency, contacts in your plan may be provided with a briefing about an incident, and asked to relay key information to members of your community.

DBS checks are not a legal requirement for Community Emergency Response.

If you are concerned you could consider finding people within your community who do have DBS checks (like teachers, nurses or social workers), and use them in a response.

However, if you would feel more comfortable having them, you can request them as an individual for £18 on Gov.uk. Click the button below for more information on applying for a DBS

Request a basic DBS Check

Finally, you can maintain a safe and secure environment for everyone involved by ensuring vulnerable people and volunteers are not left alone.

When responding to an emergency, if you are acting for the benefit of society (or any member of it) and can show you have taken reasonable care and precautions, if you are sued the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism (SARAH) Act 2015 offers protection, and ensures the court takes into account the context, and your good intentions. For more information on the SARAH Act click on the button below.

SARAH Bill: Fact sheet

If you would like to added protection of insurance, if you are part of an existing group, like a Parish Council, you may find your existing insurance policy is sufficient. Check with your provider to find out.

If you don’t have an existing policy, numerous insurance providers do offer cover to community emergency groups.

In an emergency, you can share personal data where it is necessary to protect the vital interests (e.g. life, safety) of individuals. This is provided by Article6(1)(d) in UK GDPR. Follow the link below for more information:

Vital interests | ICO

We encourage community groups to avoid creating list of vulnerable people, as this data quickly becomes out of date, and can mean the plan is harder to share. Instead we suggest keeping the contact details of local groups (like Age UK, Toddler Clubs, Community First) who can share this information in an emergency.

When sharing your plan outside of an emergency, it’s important to get permission from those included. When shared with responders, the plan will be stored on a secure government platform, in line with GDPR requirements.