A small firm can lose its premises, its people, its systems or a key supplier in a single week, and the owner often has to decide everything at once. This template is a short continuity plan: it sets out the key risks, then one page each for premises, people, IT and suppliers, and ends with the contacts the crisis team needs. Each page states what to do first, so the plan can be read under pressure.

The sample is for Ironvale Works, a fictional joinery workshop, with named roles, recovery targets and a risk register that you can compare with your own business. Replace the critical activities, the crisis team and the phone numbers with real people, then rewrite the scenarios for disruptions you can actually imagine. Test the plan with a tabletop exercise before you rely on it.