We set out below our arrangements for business continuity during the current COVID-19 pandemic. We have a dual focus. Our priority is the wellbeing and pastoral care of all our people. We are also committed to working as effectively as possible in order to enable us to continue to deliver excellent services for our clients. Currently the majority of our offices are open including London, however in accordance with UK government recommendations, home working is being recommended where possible and unnecessary travel has been stopped.
The situation keeps changing in our different locations so we are monitoring it closely and will update this message regularly.
We are used to working in an agile way and CMS is well equipped to support a large number of staff working remotely. Our robust infrastructure, systems and mobile technology allow us to operate in a business as usual capacity and we have the appropriate infrastructure and controls in place to support a mobile workforce during major incidents.
During this period, we are making more use of our existing virtual meeting and conferencing facilities and accessing all of our client papers (emails and documents) electronically. Access to our system is through a secure login with two factor authentication ensuring that the security and confidentiality of our work is maintained. The protection of client data is always of the utmost importance to CMS, and relevant provisions for off-site work will consider all relevant information transfer requirements at both a digital and hard copy level. Our colleagues in Asia have already been working from home for some weeks and we will replicate processes and best practice gained from our experience there.
Our response to the changing situation continues to be managed and monitored by our experienced Business Continuity Team. We are monitoring the World Health Organisation, and travel and other restrictions from the relevant country specific government guidance. For specific matters, we will discuss with clients what additional arrangements, if any, should be made in order to deal with necessary face to face meetings and hearings.
