Chris Falconer, Chief Commercial Officer at Water Direct, takes a look at what he calls “the most ignored threat in continuity planning” and shares insights from the frontlines - from schools and care homes to factories - where water outages hit hard, and often, there’s no contingency plan at all.

The House of Commons is set to debate the contingency plans of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on Friday for the potential event of the collapse of Thames Water.

Pressures are mounting on the Government to publish its contingency plans amidst growing concerns about Thames Water’s financial position, following a report in the Financial Times that the water company is lobbying the government and Ofwat to let it increase bills, pay dividends and face lower fines.

Earls-Colne-based planned and emergency water supplier Water Direct has won the prestigious UK award for Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) in the 2018 Business Continuity Awards, fighting off competition from Databarracks, Iland and Sunguard to take the prize.