Emergency Preparedness: guidance on Part 1 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, its associated regulations and non-statutory arrangements

Emergency Preparedness is the Cabinet Office guidance on Part 1 of the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, its associated regulations and non-statutory arrangements. The gov.uk publication page gives a first publication date of 1 January 2006 and lists the chapters as separate documents, most revised in October 2011 or March 2012. The page records that the Civil Contingencies Act Enhancement Programme completed its review of the guidance in March 2012, which is why this entry carries that year.

Its legal standing

Section 3(1) of the Act allows a Minister of the Crown to issue guidance to Category 1 and 2 responders about the matters in section 2, and section 3(3)(b) requires a responder to have regard to it. Cabinet Office guidance on responder responsibilities refers to Emergency Preparedness as the statutory guidance that, with the Act and the Regulations, establishes the roles and responsibilities of those involved in emergency preparation and response at the local level.

What it covers

The publication page says the guidance deals with the pre-emergency elements of integrated emergency management: anticipation, assessment, prevention and preparation. Most chapters set out the legislative requirements of the Act and the Regulations, offer good practice on how responders can comply, and give information that is not governed by the legislation. Four themes run through them: the definition of emergency, the importance of responders' functions, the distinction between Category 1 and 2 responders, and the links between the duties.

The chapters listed on 29 October 2026 are:

• Chapters 1 to 4: Introduction, Co-operation, Formal information sharing, and Local responder risk assessment duty (all revised March 2012)
• Chapter 5: Emergency planning (revised October 2011)
• Chapter 6: Business continuity management (revised March 2012)
• Chapter 7: Communicating with the public (revised March 2012), with annexes 7A to 7D
• Chapter 8: Business continuity advice and assistance to business and the voluntary sector (revised March 2012)
• Chapter 9: London (revised March 2012)
• Chapters 10, 11 and 12: Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (revised October 2011)
• Chapter 13: Support and challenge (published March 2012)
• Chapter 14: The role of the voluntary sector (revised October 2011)
• Chapter 15: Other sectors that should be involved in emergency planning (revised October 2011)
• Chapter 16: Collaboration and co-operation between local resilience forums in England (published March 2012)
• Chapter 19: The fit with other legislation (published February 2011)
• Further reading and a glossary

The page explains the gap between chapters 16 and 19. The review merged the former chapters on monitoring and enforcement and on the role of the Minister into a new chapter 13, and merged the two former chapters on the regional level in England into a new chapter 16. The page says the sequence will be amended and a consolidated version made available.

How it is used

The gov.uk guidance on responder responsibilities points practitioners to specific chapters: chapter 5 and its annexes for examples of generic and specific plans and a plan maintenance matrix, chapter 7 for communicating with vulnerable people and victims, chapter 14 for the voluntary sector, chapter 16 for multi-forum co-operation, and chapter 19 for how the Act fits with the major accident, pipeline and radiation regulations that take precedence under regulation 12 of the 2005 Regulations.

Emergency Preparedness is paired with Emergency Response and Recovery, which covers what happens once an emergency occurs. The gov.uk page for that document describes Emergency Preparedness as setting out how the duties under the Act and its supporting regulations should be implemented.

Reading it today

The chapters are PDFs on the publication page, which notes they may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. The duties the guidance explains are summarised on the seven duties page, and the regulations it interprets on the Contingency Planning Regulations 2005 page.