Staffing Shortages Happen — But Your Continuity Plan Shouldn’t Be a Blank Page

July 26, 2025

🧠 Business Continuity Blog — Staffing Continuity Series

🧩 Even the most stable teams face disruption. Sickness. School closures. Burnout. Transport issues. No matter how good your rota system is, life happens — and your care service needs a plan.

This isn’t just about scrambling to cover a shift. It’s about ensuring safe staffing levels, minimising impact on care, and avoiding CQC concerns about unsafe practice.

📋 1. Identify Your Staffing Risks

Which roles are critical to safe care delivery?
What’s your minimum safe staffing ratio by shift type?
Do you know your single points of failure — like lone night staff?

🔁 2. Build a Redeployment Plan

You don’t always need agency staff. Could you:

Use non-care staff who are trained to step in?
Redeploy from low-risk services to high-need settings?
Offer flexible working to bank or part-time staff?

Planning redeployment in advance avoids chaos when the call-ins start coming.

📞 3. Have Agency Protocols in Place

Agency should be a last resort — but it needs to be ready when you need it.

Do you have up-to-date agency contracts?
Are profiles and DBS checks on file in advance?
Do staff know the approval process to escalate quickly?

✅ 4. Document Your Plan — and Test It

Write down your staffing continuity actions and escalation process
Include staffing risk in your Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
Test it — in a tabletop exercise or scenario-based discussion

💡 Pro Tip: Don’t Wait for a Crisis

Services that review staffing continuity monthly — not just in emergencies — can spot patterns, improve recruitment, and strengthen resilience across the board.

📦 Resources to Strengthen Your Approach

Written by Mike Harrison, Founder of Impact Guru Ltd — specialists in bid writing and strategy for social care providers

Visit impact-guru.co.uk to browse downloadable strategies, method statements, or get in touch about tender support.

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