Headquarters Standing Joint Command (UK) (HQ SJC (UK))

HQ SJC(UK) coordinates the Armed Forces’ contribution to UK resilience operations in support of other government departments.

Organisation

HQ SJC(UK) is the 3* organisation that provides military support to UK resilience and security through the Military Aid to the Civil Authorities (MACA) process. They are based in Aldershot and are staffed by tri-Service personnel and civil servants, with a permanent core staff augmented by regular and reserve personnel in times of need.

Responsibilities

The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in 2021, reflects upon revised cross-government and devolved resilience policy, and it notes the lessons learned in the years 2016 through to 2021. Within 4 overarching objectives are provided, the fourth of which is “Build resilience, improving our ability to anticipate, prevent, prepare for and respond to risks ranging from extreme weather to cyber-attacks. This will also involve tackling risks at source – such as climate change and global health risks.” The resilience component is further broken down in JDP 02 “The Defence Contribution to Resilience”.

HQ SJC (UK) provides the capability to meet the resilience component by providing support to the UK civil authorities, often at short notice in times of crisis or need.

How we support

Military aid is requested by civil authorities through the MACA process. If a MACA is authorised, HQ SJC (UK) will allocate a workforce of suitably qualified service personnel from any of the Royal Navy, Army or Royal Air Force to provide support.

Types of support that HQ SJC (UK) can facilitate are:

  1. Response to extreme or adverse weather
  2. Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search (EOD&S)
  3. Mitigate the effects of disruption to national infrastructure or systems, for example the delivery of fuel supplies
  4. Response to national emergencies that overwhelm public services, for example the COVID-19 pandemic
  5. Back-up to police in response to terrorist threats
  6. Chemical Biological Radioactive and Nuclear (CBRN) threats

Policy

The provision of military assistance is governed by four principles. A MACA may be authorised when:

  1. There is a definite need to act, and the tasks our armed forces are being asked to perform are clear
  2. Other options, including mutual aid and commercial alternatives, have been discounted; and either
  3. The civil authority lacks the necessary capability to fulfil the task and it is unreasonable or prohibitively expensive to expect it to develop one; or
  4. The civil authority has all or some capability, but it may not be available immediately or to the required scale, and the urgency of the task requires rapid external support from the MOD.

Ministerial authority must be sought for any MACA requests where the requesting authority may have to accept all or part of the financial costs.

There is no requirement for a ministerial request by the government department needing military support if aid is delegated through a ministerial Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) meeting in response to an emergency, providing a defence minister is present to accept the request.

Resilience network

Defence support to the civil authorities is dependent upon timely and effective liaison with Other Government Departments (OGDs) and Local Resilience Forums (LRFs). This liaison is facilitated through a network of regional liaison officers comprising: Royal Navy Regional Liaison Officers (RNRLOs); Joint Regional Liaison Officers (JRLOs); and Royal Air Force Regional Liaison Officers (RAFRLOs). The neural network provided by these personnel working together is vital to the successful operation of HQ SJC (UK) as a Joint military HQ.

Contact us

To report an incident or emergency:

Duty Officer (24 hours) phone: +44 (0)30 6770 1398
Email: SJCUK-HQ-Mailbox@mod.gov.uk

Further information can be found in Joint Doctrine Publication 02 UK Operations: The Defence Contribution to Resilience and Security

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