When the lights go out… how ready is your workforce?

Here are a few incidents that bring this into focus:

• Power outage at HMP Liverpool (June 2025)
  In late June 2025 a temporary power failure on A-wing at HMP Liverpool disrupted in-cell services, the wing servery and medication unit, leading to the precautionary relocation of around 40 prisoners while repairs were underway. The incident required staff coordination and contingency measures to maintain safety and continuity.
• Severe weather-related court closures (January 2025)
  In January 2025, Storm Éowyn brought severe conditions and a red weather warning to parts of the UK, prompting the closure of Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) for a day while urgent work was handled remotely. Weather-related closures like this demonstrate how extreme conditions can interrupt justice operations, travel for staff and court users, and require contingency arrangements.
• The PSNI data breach (2023)
  In August 2023 the Police Service of Northern Ireland accidentally published sensitive identifying information – including surnames, initials, ranks, work locations, and departments – for around 9,500 officers and staff as part of a Freedom of Information response. The breach required urgent operational adjustments, risk assessments and support for affected employees, demonstrating how quickly a digital incident can escalate.
• National MoJ and court IT outage (2019)
  A major systems failure left courts unable to access digital case files, send emails or update listings. Thousands of hearings were delayed or adjourned as staff switched to paper-based workarounds while services were restored. This outage highlighted the importance of resilient digital infrastructure and its interdependencies.

What these incidents reveal

Justice organisations operate under clear expectations set out in the Civil Contingencies Act (2004), government resilience frameworks and internal security and continuity policies. The examples above illustrate that:

• Digital systems remain a key dependency, and disruptions can affect information access, communication and coordination across multiple services.
• Infrastructure and estate issues including power outages, building failures or severe weather can interrupt normal operations and require rapid adjustments to maintain safety and service continuity.
• Workforce readiness is central to effective response, and not all staff have opportunities to practise decision-making or incident roles under realistic pressure.

Why traditional compliance isn’t enough

Emergency and business continuity plans often look comprehensive on paper, but incidents rarely unfold in predictable ways.

• A cyber breach may coincide with a staffing shortfall.
• An infrastructure failure can disrupt hearings, custody, digital systems and transport all at once.
• An IT outage may cascade across agencies that rely on shared platforms.

Organisations also need confidence that their people can apply emergency plans effectively when it matters, closing the gaps between documented plans and how they play out in practice. As the risk landscape evolves, organisational preparedness must evolve too.