Following recent service continuity events such as storms and burst water mains, North Yorkshire County Council is urging care settings to make sure that they are registered with their utility companies as a priority service/customer.

This means that, should an incident occur which does not trigger a multi-agency major incident response, utility companies can use their priority customer information to prioritise a response and not wait for information from other agencies.

Without being on the register, support for care settings may be delayed and they would be included in the response to the wider public, which could lead to a lengthy wait before any action is taken. Links to the main utility providers are:

• Services Directory | Northern Powergrid
• Yorkshire Water – Priority services register
• Priority customers | Northern Gas Networks

Please ensure you have registered your service as a priority service/customer and make reference to this in your Business Continuity Plans.