Business Continuity Plan Template
Download this free business continuity plan template in Word to set out how your organisation will respond to disruption, keep priority services running and recover normal operations.
A failed system, inaccessible office or missing supplier can stop work in minutes. This template helps you decide what must keep going, who takes charge and how the work will be done while you recover.
The editable document includes an illustrated cover, 12 sections, practical prompts, response checklists, recovery tables and a resources section. Use it for a whole business, a department or a service.
Word .docx format. Add your organisation, replace the prompts and adapt the tables to suit your operations.
Table of Contents:
- What is a business continuity plan?
- Preview the Word template
- Contents of the business continuity plan template
- How to complete the template
- RTO, RPO and MTPD explained
- Business continuity plan example
- How to test your plan
- Download the template
- Frequently asked questions
- Business continuity resources
- Related templates and guides
What is a business continuity plan?
A business continuity plan (BCP) records the arrangements for continuing essential work during a disruption and restoring the services that have stopped. It connects recovery priorities with people, resources and clear instructions.
Your plan should answer practical questions: Who can activate it? Which activities come first? What can be delivered with fewer staff or without the usual systems? How will customers receive updates?
It should also work when normal arrangements fail. A contact list stored only on an unavailable network is little help. Keep an accessible offline copy of the instructions and contacts your response team needs.
Preview the Word template
These are pages from the downloadable template. Open any preview to see the prompts and tables in detail.
Contents of the business continuity plan template
The template covers preparation, response, recovery and review. Copy the activity recovery section for each essential service so that every recovery has a clear owner and sequence of actions.
| Section | What to record |
|---|---|
| 01. Plan overview | Set the scope, name the owner, record approval and identify the master and offline copies. |
| 02. Activation and immediate response | Agree the triggers, who can activate the plan and the first actions to take. |
| 03. Response roles and contacts | List the response team, deputies, external contacts and escalation route. |
| 04. Priority activities and recovery targets | Record the impact of disruption, minimum service levels and recovery deadlines. |
| 05. Continuity resources and dependencies | Confirm the people, premises, systems, suppliers, equipment and funding needed. |
| 06. Activity recovery procedure | Write the recovery steps, owners, checks and handback arrangements for each activity. |
| 07. Disruption response playbooks | Prepare for unavailable premises, staff shortages, supplier failure and utility or technology outages. |
| 08. Technology and data recovery | Record system recovery order, data loss limits, backup references and acceptance checks. |
| 09. Communications | Plan audience updates, approval routes, fallback channels and the first holding message. |
| 10. Incident log and return to normal | Record decisions and actions, then manage the backlog and approve the return to normal service. |
| 11. Exercises and maintenance | Schedule exercises, track improvements and maintain version and distribution records. |
| 12. Resources and supporting documents | Keep guidance links, supporting plans and offline document locations together. |
How to complete the business continuity plan template
1. Set the scope and appoint the response team
Start with the services, teams, locations and working hours covered by the plan. Name the owner and the people authorised to activate it. Give each key role a deputy and agree what happens if neither person can be reached.
Small organisations can combine roles. Record who makes decisions, who restores services and who issues updates, even if one person handles several tasks.
2. Decide which activities must recover first
Work with the people who run each activity. Ask what happens if it stops for an hour, a day or longer. Consider missed deadlines, customer impact, lost income, safety and the work that depends on it.
Record the minimum useful service, such as handling urgent customer calls or processing a set number of orders per hour. Set a recovery deadline for that service and identify which systems or suppliers must be available first.
3. Confirm the fallback arrangements
For each priority activity, list the staff, equipment, information and access required. Check the alternative with whoever provides it. A spare office needs enough seats and working connectivity. An alternative supplier needs capacity and an agreed ordering route.
Consider shared dependencies. Two suppliers may use the same warehouse, and your backup communication channel may depend on the same account as your email.
4. Write a procedure that someone can follow
Use section 6 to describe the recovery steps in order. Give each step an owner and a way to confirm completion. Replace phrases such as “restore operations” with the actual work: contact the deputy, open the approved order log, check access and process a test transaction.
Include the limits of the workaround. Record how much work it can handle, how long it can continue and when the incident lead must make a further decision.
5. Prepare communications and the return to normal
Agree who needs updates, who approves them and how often they will be sent. The template includes a holding message you can adapt quickly. Explain what is affected, what people should do and when they will hear from you again.
Plan the handback too. Decide who checks restored services, reconciles temporary records and clears the backlog. Record who can stand down the response and close the temporary arrangements.
RTO, RPO and MTPD explained
These terms describe different recovery requirements. Record the units and when the clock starts so that everyone works to the same target.
| Term | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| RTO Recovery time objective | The target time to resume an agreed level of service after disruption. | Resume urgent order processing within 4 hours. |
| RPO Recovery point objective | The maximum acceptable data loss measured in time. | Recover records to a point no more than 1 hour before the outage. |
| MTPD Maximum tolerable period of disruption | The time after which the impact of disruption becomes unacceptable. | An interruption beyond 24 hours causes unacceptable missed deliveries. |
Set the RTO before the MTPD, leaving a margin for recovery problems. The GOV.UK business continuity toolkit explains this relationship. Check data recovery arrangements with the technology owner and confirm that restoration tests support the proposed targets.
Business continuity plan example
Scenario: A small supplier loses access to its order management system at 09:00. Staff can still use a separately hosted telephone service and an approved offline customer contact list.
The following is a fictional example of the decisions to record. Its targets are illustrative.
| Plan field | Completed example |
|---|---|
| Activation trigger | The system is unavailable for 30 minutes, or IT expects the outage to threaten the 4-hour service recovery target. |
| Authority | Operations Manager, with the Customer Service Supervisor as deputy. |
| Minimum service | Two trained staff take urgent orders by phone and record up to 10 orders per hour in the approved temporary log. |
| Recovery target | Start the temporary service by 13:00, four hours after the disruption began. The MTPD is 24 hours. |
| Data target | Restore system records to within 1 hour of the outage. Reconstruct any missing transactions and reconcile the temporary log. |
| Resources | Two trained staff, independent telephone access, offline contacts, a controlled order log and an agreed way to confirm stock. |
| Updates | Contact customers whose deliveries are affected. Issue staff updates every hour through the agreed fallback channel. |
| Return to normal | IT confirms the system is stable. Operations checks sample orders and stock, reconciles the temporary log and approves handback. |
The four-hour target applies to the minimum service. Full system restoration and clearing the backlog need their own owners and agreed deadlines.
How to test your business continuity plan
Start with a short discussion exercise. Choose one disruption and ask the response team to work through the plan. Make the usual system or a key person unavailable in the scenario and see whether the written instructions still work.
- Give the team a scenario, a start time and the facts known so far.
- Ask who activates the plan and which contacts they use.
- Walk through the recovery procedure and check resource availability.
- Compare the likely recovery time and capacity with the targets.
- Record missing information and failed assumptions, with an owner and due date for each fix.
Follow the discussion with practical checks, such as contacting a deputy or testing a restore in an approved environment. For cyber scenarios, the NCSC provides free Exercise in a Box materials.
Download the business continuity plan template
Free editable Word template
Includes the plan overview, response team, recovery targets, resource tables, procedures, communications, incident log, exercise records and resources.
Download business continuity plan (.docx)
Replace the bracketed prompts, add rows as needed and copy the recovery procedure for each priority activity. Update the contents page references after editing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use this template for a small business?
Yes. Keep the roles, activities and arrangements that apply to your business. One person may cover several roles, but name a deputy for essential decisions and make sure someone else can find and use the plan.
What is the difference between business continuity and disaster recovery?
Business continuity covers how the organisation continues essential work. IT disaster recovery focuses on restoring technology and data. Link the plans so that system recovery supports the service priorities in the continuity plan.
How often should I review the plan?
Set a review interval and owner. Update it after relevant changes to people, services, premises, systems or suppliers, and after an incident or exercise reveals a gap. Keep the contact roster and offline copies in step with the current version.
Where should the completed plan be kept?
Keep the master copy in a controlled location and give the response team access to an offline copy. Record the copy holders and locations. Store passwords and recovery codes separately in your approved secure system.
Can I save the completed plan as a PDF?
Yes. After editing in Word, update the contents references and use Save As or Export to create a PDF. Keep the editable Word file as your master so future changes can be made and approved.
Business continuity resources
The Word template includes a resources section and a register for your supporting documents. These sources provide further planning guidance and exercises:
- GOV.UK Business Continuity Management Toolkit: planning, impact analysis, response arrangements and exercises.
- NI Business Info: Create a business continuity plan: guidance on emergency response, communications and business recovery.
- NCSC Small organisations guide to cyber security: practical guidance on backups, devices and accounts.
- NCSC Exercise in a Box: materials to rehearse and improve your response to cyber incidents.
Related templates and guides
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Record threats, assess their impact and assign actions to reduce disruption.
Communications plan template
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Prepare a response to a specific risk, with clear triggers and actions.
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