How emergency services and authorities coordinate in the UK, explained for the organisations that work alongside them.

The UK has no national body that commands every emergency. Each service keeps its own chain of command, and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 sets out who must plan, assess risk and co-operate locally. The Act defines an emergency as an event or situation that threatens serious damage to human welfare or the environment in a place in the UK, or war or terrorism threatening serious damage to its security.

How the services work together at the scene is set by the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP). Its joint doctrine asks responders to co-locate, communicate in plain language, coordinate, jointly understand risk and build shared situational awareness. JESIP applies to any incident, large or small, spontaneous or planned.

A major incident is the term responders use for an event or situation with a range of serious consequences that requires special arrangements by one or more emergency responder agencies. Any service can declare one, and it may be a major incident for one agency and not for the others.

Each service organises its own command at three levels: operational, tactical and strategic. Some services still call these Bronze, Silver and Gold. When several agencies are involved, the commanders at each level meet in multi-agency coordinating groups. Once you know which level you are dealing with, you know whose decisions count.

Two JESIP tools turn up at every level. M/ETHANE is the structured message for reporting an incident: major incident declared or not, exact location, type of incident, hazards, access, number of casualties and emergency services present or needed. The Joint Decision Model guides joint decisions through gathering information, assessing risk and setting a working strategy, considering powers and policies, identifying options, then acting and reviewing.

• Operational. Commanders at or near the scene run their own people and work side by side with colleagues from the other services. The scene is often split into cordons and sectors.
• Tactical. Once the scale is clear, each service appoints a tactical commander. Together they may form a Tactical Coordinating Group to agree priorities and how resources are shared.
• Strategic. For larger incidents a Strategic Coordinating Group sets the overall multi-agency strategy. The police usually chair it, and the chair is coordinating, not commanding the other services. When the emergency phase ends, a Recovery Coordinating Group, usually chaired by the local authority, takes over.
• National. For the most serious emergencies a lead government department and the central government crisis arrangements support the local response. Under Part 2 of the Act, emergency regulations are possible in the gravest cases; they are time-limited and subject to Parliament.

Planned involvement works far better for everyone than turning up unannounced.

• Through the Local Resilience Forum. Category 1 responders must have regard to voluntary organisations active in their area when they plan (regulation 23 of the Contingency Planning Regulations 2005). In practice charities such as search teams, feeding and shelter providers join LRF groups or sign agreements with a council or service that say what they provide, who can activate them and how. Government guidance says statutory responders should agree activation processes in advance, may agree how costs are paid, and should include the voluntary sector in debriefs.
• As a Category 2 responder. If you run electricity, gas, water, telecoms, rail, airports, ports or strategic roads, you already have duties to co-operate and share information with Category 1 responders.
• As spontaneous volunteers. Members of the public who come forward on the day should be coordinated through the system agreed by the statutory services, to avoid double-counting and gaps.
• Military aid. The armed forces keep no standing forces for these tasks. Military aid to the civil authorities is requested through government and approved by Defence ministers, and only where there is a definite need with clear tasks, other options (mutual aid, commercial and the voluntary sector) have been discounted, and the civil authority lacks the capability or cannot provide it fast enough. Joint regional liaison officers advise LRFs on what is realistic. Local commanders may give immediate assistance where life is at risk.

County, district and unitary councils are Category 1 responders. In a response they open and run rest centres, support people who have lost their homes, provide welfare and humanitarian assistance, help warn and inform the public, and bring in highways, building control and environmental health. Once the emergency phase is over the local authority usually leads the recovery and chairs the Recovery Coordinating Group.

Town and parish councils have no statutory role, yet they often know their area best: who lives alone, which hall has a generator, which lane floods first. A community emergency plan agreed with the district council lets that knowledge reach the people coordinating. See our community emergency plan guide.

Sinkaos is not connected to emergency service control rooms and does not replace 999, their radio or their command systems. While you support the response, it helps your own organisation keep track of its people, tasks and equipment, works offline, and keeps a timestamped record of what you provided. See NGO field teams and council emergency response.