Purpose
Agencies rely on the Templace service (the Service) to book workers, take timesheets, run pay and send invoices. This policy explains how we plan to keep it running, and how we recover it if something goes wrong.
Our availability target is 99.5% of the time each month. The Service Levels in our terms at /terms explain how this is measured.
What we plan for
We plan for:
- failure of the server or its storage;
- an outage at our UK hosting provider;
- data damaged by a fault, a mistaken bulk change or a cyber attack, including ransomware;
- a release that causes a problem;
- loss of our own mail provider, which carries Templace's notices;
- the Director or a key contractor being unavailable.
Backups
We back up the Service every night. Each backup is checked by re-opening the database and running an integrity check, so that we know it can be used. Backups are stored separately from the live database and can be read only by the server's own user.
Older backups age out on the schedule below. When an agency's data is deleted after it leaves, the copies in our backups disappear as those backups age out.
We keep:
- the newest 14 nightly backups;
- the first backup of each month, for 12 months.
Recovery
Our recovery point is the previous night's backup. If the live database were lost, the worst case is that changes made since the last nightly backup would need to be entered again.
If a release causes a problem, we roll back to the previous release, which we always keep. Every release passes our whole automated test suite, about 180 test suites, before it is installed, which makes this less likely.
An agency can ask us to restore its data to the previous night, for example after a mistaken bulk change. Before we restore, we confirm with the agency which later changes will be lost.
If the server or hosting fails, we will rebuild the Service on a server in the United Kingdom and restore the most recent good backup.
Steps we follow when the Service is disrupted
The Director, or a contractor acting for the Director, will:
- confirm what has happened and which agencies are affected;
- decide whether to roll back, restore from backup or fix in place, choosing the option that loses least data;
- tell affected agencies, and keep them updated until the Service is back;
- check that the Service and its data are complete and working before reopening it;
- follow our Personal data breach and incident response policy if personal data may have been affected;
- record what happened and what we will change to stop it happening again.
Keeping you informed
We tell affected agencies by email and, where needed, by phone, using the contacts we hold. If our mail provider is unavailable, we phone. We treat a full outage as Severity 1 under our Support and service levels policy.
Candidates, workers and clients see the Service under the agency's brand, so it is for the agency to decide what to tell them. We will give you the facts you need to do so.
Continuity of our own business
Templace is a small company led by its Director. We keep our recovery steps written down, so that recovery does not depend on one person.
Our contractors are bound by confidentiality, and during a recovery they reach agency data only under our normal access rules, with every entry recorded in the agency's audit trail.
What agencies should plan for
The Service is one part of your own business continuity. After an agency's agreement ends or it is suspended, its data is kept for 90 days so that it can be exported, then deleted from the live service.
We recommend that you:
- export the records you would need to keep paying workers and invoicing clients during an outage, and store them securely;
- know how you would contact your workers and clients if the Service were unavailable;
- keep your own mail server running and its settings up to date, because your emails to your people go through it;
- make sure more than one person at your agency knows how to contact us;
- keep your account in good standing: after a non-payment notice the Service may be suspended, and you will be told to take your backups and export your data.
Testing and review
Every nightly backup is checked automatically. We will test a full restore from backup at least once a year, and review this policy at the same time and after any real disruption.
Business continuity and disaster recovery · version 1.0 · approved 27/10/2026 · next review 27/10/2027. Templace is a trading name of TWH Holdings Limited, company number 10663539, Meadway, Mill Road, Writhlington, Radstock, BA3 5TY.