Transitioning to the refreshed NOS for Resilience and Emergencies: Learning across organisational contexts

The refreshed National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Resilience and Emergencies provide a nationally agreed resource for the skills, knowledge and behaviours required across resilience roles, including planning, response, recovery and command. Designed for use across sectors, they offer a shared reference point for organisations working in complex and high-pressure environments, including local government, healthcare and other public sector settings.

Launched in April 2025, the refreshed NOS replace the previous Civil Contingencies standards.

Drawing on experience from North Yorkshire Council, including its established use of the Civil Contingencies NOS to support resilience capability and assurance, alongside work through the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) on how the refreshed NOS are applied across the partnership, the reflections that follow are intended to support shared learning across organisations and sectors.

Within North Yorkshire Council, the use of the Civil Contingencies NOS has been embedded over time as part of everyday resilience practice. This has included aligning standards with real roles, tasks and development activity, providing a practical basis for understanding how national standards can operate beyond policy and guidance.

Turning standards into everyday practice

North Yorkshire Council was an early and committed adopter of the Civil Contingencies NOS, embedding them across its emergency planning function well before the refreshed Resilience and Emergencies standards were introduced.

Across local government, healthcare and other public sector organisations, resilience roles often sit alongside demanding day jobs. Staff need clarity about what is expected of them, reassurance that they are appropriately prepared, and confidence that their development aligns with nationally recognised standards. At the same time, organisations need a credible way to evidence capability in a sector with limited formal qualification pathways and in an environment of increased scrutiny and public inquiry.

The NOS provide a clear, nationally agreed framework to meet these needs.

Embedding the Civil Contingencies NOS meant translating standards into operational reality. Rather than treating the NOS as a reference document, the Council mapped each of the original 18 standards and their performance criteria against:

• Work tasks and incident roles
• Training courses and exercise objectives
• Appraisal and professional development processes

This approach enabled individuals to evidence competence over a three-year cycle using incidents, exercises and everyday work products. The NOS became embedded in job descriptions, training design and CPD conversations, ensuring that development activity consistently translated into practical capability.

Over time, this helped build confidence, both for individuals undertaking demanding planning and command roles, and for the organisation responsible for preparedness and response.

Welcoming the refreshed Resilience and Emergencies NOS

The introduction of the refreshed 11 NOS for Resilience and Emergencies has been welcomed as a positive step forward. The revised standards align well with how resilience capability is developed and maintained in practice, while allowing flexibility to reflect different organisational roles, structures and professional backgrounds.

In an environment of heightened scrutiny, live-streamed inquiries and increasing public accountability, the value of the NOS has become even clearer.

They provide reassurance to individuals stepping into demanding planning and command roles, a credible mechanism for evidencing competence, and a shared understanding of what ‘good’ looks like across resilience functions. For North Yorkshire Council, the NOS are a living framework that underpins confident decision-making, professional development and organisational assurance.

Crucially, the Council has approached the refreshed NOS from a position of maturity. Existing tools, mapping approaches and evidence frameworks provide a strong foundation for transition, rather than requiring a complete reset.

The Council has identified the key areas where alignment with the refreshed NOS will be needed, including re-mapping roles, tasks and training, reviewing eLearning and exercise design, and maintaining continuity of evidence and assurance. The refreshed NOS are therefore seen as an opportunity to strengthen and modernise an already embedded approach.

Leading and influencing across the Local Resilience Forum

This maturity has shaped the Council’s role within the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum.

Through LRF meetings, training and exercising forums, and targeted engagement with partners, the Council has promoted awareness of the refreshed NOS and shared practical examples of how the standards align with the emergency planning cycle. There is growing momentum among Local Authority and NHS partners in particular, with increasing recognition in how the NOS can support role clarity, CPD and organisational assurance.

The Council has deliberately encouraged single-agency embedding as a foundation for longer-term multi-agency alignment, recognising that different organisations will apply the NOS in ways that reflect their own contexts, responsibilities and operating environments.

Looking ahead

As work continues to align with the refreshed NOS, North Yorkshire Council is keen to learn from how other organisations and local resilience forums are approaching the transition. Different contexts will shape different approaches, and sharing practical experience will support learning, consistency and confidence across the resilience community, strengthening the use of the standards as a foundation for building capability.