Business Continuity Officer

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: £49,056 - £52,194

Contract Type: Full-time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Weeks per year: 52

Application Deadline: 07/10/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): Week Commencing 12/10/2026

Reference: 2338

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

You will support the councils organisational resilience through business continuity arrangements, providing knowledge and expertise to support departments.

Supporting the Business Continuity Manager, you will assist in plan reviews, new plans, threat mitigations, impact and risk assessments, and testing arrangements, whilst engaging with departments as part of the BC Programme.

You will support the delivery of the Council’s statutory duties as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, working collaboratively to embed operational resilience and business continuity across the Council, including undertaking an administrative role within the statutory Borough Resilience Forum and wider multi‑agency arrangements.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• To support the deliver the implementation of the Council’s statutory duties as a Category 1 responder under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, working collaboratively to strengthen operational resilience and emergency preparedness across the Council. This includes undertaking an admin and coordination role in support of the Borough Resilience Forum and multi agency arrangements.
• Supports preparation of business impact assessments, risk assessments, and business continuity plans, and tests business continuity arrangements.
• To participate in the Council’s 24/7 corporate crisis response arrangements, supporting the coordination of the Corporate Emergency Response Team, associated resources and equipment. The post holder will report to Corporate Directors and Directors undertaking Gold roles and provide timely advice and recommendations to senior officers and elected Members, up to Leader and Chief Executive level.
• Assist in ensuring that the council has the ability to open and manage the Borough Emergency Control Centre to co-ordinate the council’s response and provide the community with an emergency centre during an emergency.
• Provide support to the Business Continuity Manager to assist briefings to managers on organisational resilience, emergency planning, and multi agency crisis response protocols.
• To design and propose safety and security measures for events, security measures and to respond to threats and risks to elected members, sending proposals to the Business Continuity Manager to approve mitigation measures.
• Co-ordinates the council’s response to unplanned incidents, manages Local Authority Liaison Officers and Crisis Response Volunteers, and supports emergency responders and recovery.
• Maintains communication channels with emergency services and other responders at a tactical level.
• To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of civil contingency legislation, associated procedures and guidance and to maintain competency for the role.

Qualifications and Requirements:

To be considered for this position, you should meet the following requirements:

• Experience in the delivery of business continuity functions with the ability to deputise for the Senior Business Continuity Officer.
• Experience of participating in a wide range of projects and activities including multi agency exercises.
• Knowledge and experience of business continuity, multi agency crisis response protocols, regional plans, and recovery protocols.
• Experience of applying principles of risk assessment to business continuity.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to demonstrate this with senior officers and stakeholders.
• Possess the skills to be able to assess competency of crisis response team members against standards and identify training to meet development needs.
• Ability to participate in the crisis response on call rota in either tactical response or advisor roles and attend the scene of incidents or other locations in the borough within 90 minutes of call out, reporting to corporate directors or directors as Golds.
• Ability to maintain divisional emergency plans, working in conjunction with team managers.
• Possess a flexible approach to new or emerging challenges affecting civil protection and resilience with the ability to prioritise work according to risk or threat.
• To work outside of normal office hours where required, as part of response to emergencies and attendance at events.

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;
• Satisfactory declaration of interest;
• Police Vetting
  

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Dan Lawson - Corporate Director Community Safety & Public Protection at daniel.lawson@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Fraud Awareness Notice
The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).

We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.

If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.

If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to:
fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.