Risks │ Guidelines and Principles

What are the key project delivery risks (i.e. staffing, financial overspend, scope creep, challenging milestones, safeguarding etc) and are there suitable mitigations in place?

What are we looking for?

We want to see an awareness of risk in your plans and also an awareness of how they can be sensibly managed to ensure the project stays on track.

This principle is assessed in the following questions:

  • 4b: Risk Assessment Template
  • 4d(ii): Do you have contingency plans in place if the project lead or delivery staff leaves?
  • 5a: Please outline how you plan to monitor and evaluate your project against stated outcomes.

How can this be demonstrated?

Risk assessment:

  • A clear and comprehensive risk assessment, setting out the main risks to the project and where appropriate, mitigating measures to reduce risk and contingency strategies to reduce impact.
  • It may be helpful to discuss your risk assessment with your wider project team or senior management, as others may be able to identify new, but important aspects for inclusion.
  • Evidence that the project has internal capacity built in or have contingency plans which describe how the project will continue if key lead or delivery staff leaves.

Project monitoring:

  • Outline of plans for how you will monitor progress against your stated project outcomes during project delivery.

Why is this important?

“Let our advanced worrying become advanced planning” – Winston Churchill