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Last month's arrest of nine suspected terrorists in London and south east England brought home how such activity is not confined to mainland Europe or the US. The arrests came just weeks after the bomb attack on rush hour trains in Madrid last month. Shortly afterwards, Tony Blair joined other European leaders in Brussels to discuss their response to the terror threat. So with the possibility of a terrorist attack in the UK only too real, what would social services do to ensure their clients were supported?

Association of Directors of Social Services' president Andrew Cozens insists social services would act swiftly in the event of such a scenario happening here. All councils have emergency planning responsibilities and social services deliver theirs in partnership with key voluntary sector organisations. "Local authorities in England have substantial experience of this, such as dealing with the Bradford fire and the Zeebrugge ferry disaster." He advocates that councils develop clear procedures on what to do in a disaster and run regular desktop exercises on responding.

In researching this article five councils refused to discuss their plans, saying the issue was too sensitive. David Kerry, chair of the London Local Authorities Emergency Planning Group, says their reluctance does not surprise him. "Emergency planning is taking place but there are protocols and security issues around it," he says. However, he rejects the notion that releasing these details will cause the public to panic: "I think it will reassure them, but the home secretary disagrees. If I was an ordinary member of the public I would think 'why can't the government trust me?'."

Cozens says people should feel confident that their local authorities have emergency plans in place, although details "do not need to be revealed."

Below, three London boroughs respond to our worst case scenario and describe the preparations they have in place. Also, Swansea and Glasgow outline their arrangements, and Madrid describes how it coped.

The worst case scenario 

• Thursday 5.30pm: At the height of the rush hour, bombs are detonated simultaneously at three commuter hubs:London Bridge, Westminster tube station and Charing Cross station. The noise of the explosions reverberates across London. 
• 5.45pm: A lorry parked outside 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, explodes. At 800ft it is one of the tallest office blocks in Europe and home to the Daily Telegraph and The Independent newspapers.  
• 6pm: Oxford Street shoppers are targeted by a bomb blast at Selfridges.

Southwark (covers London Bridge area) 

Southwark Council has identified 14 community centres, leisure centres and schools across the borough it can use as rest centres following an emergency. 

A rest centre is a safe, temporary shelter for people who have been evacuated from their homes following a major incident such as a bomb or flood. People stay there until they are allowed to return to their homes or go into other accommodation. While in a rest centre their needs are assessed and they are provided with appropriate services, including medication and food. 

Southwark has a formal agreement with the Women's Royal Voluntary Service to assist in the management of these rest centres. The council's social services managers have received a special briefing on the issues arising from a major incident and establishing rest centres. The council will also involve faith communities in providing comfort and care to those in the centres.  

David Mearns, head of administrative services at Southwark and responsible for the authority's emergency planning, says: "Our plans include arrangements to transport people to a rest centre - no one would be left to fend for themselves."  

He says the council follows a programme of exercises to test its response involving the emergency services, as well as regular planning meetings with its neighbouring boroughs. In June, Southwark is taking part in a major exercise organised by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. It will involve six other south London boroughs and the emergency services.    

Tower Hamlets (covers Canary Wharf) 

Last month, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich Councils rehearsed their response in the event of an incident in Blackwall Tunnel. A strategic group from both local authorities met, were told what the scenario was and went through the process of tackling it step by step, hour by hour.  

Ian Wilson, social services director at Tower Hamlets, says the exercise was enormously useful. "It enabled us to check that the systems we have in place are not purely theoretical but will work on the day." He adds the threat of a terrorist attack is not a hypothetical situation for the authority as it has had to cope with it several times before. On 9 February 1996 an IRA bomb was detonated near South Quay station killing two people, and on 24 April 1999 David Copeland attempted to bomb Brick Lane. The device was found by a passer-by and it exploded in the boot of his car injuring several people. 

Tower Hamlets has 27 schools identified for use as rest centres during a disaster. It operates a cascade system for contacting staff via their home, mobile or work numbers. The council holds lists of employees from all departments, including social care, who have volunteered to work in the rest centres providing residents with help and information. Wilson says: "One shift of people will start after the other and we can continue like that." Emergency planning has also taken into account how to react to an incident where chemicals have been released into the air: "The rest centres will have to be a sufficient distance away from the contaminated site." 

If Tower Hamlets goes into disaster mode, Wilson insists vulnerable people will continue to receive their services.    

Westminster (covers Houses of Parliament, Charing Cross and Oxford Street) 

Some of the capital's most infamous disasters have happened within the boundaries of Westminster: 51 people died on 20 August 1989 when the Marchioness sank on the River Thames; three people were killed in the Soho pub bombing on 30 April 1999; and in the same year 31 died in the Paddington rail crash on 5 October. 

Westminster Council has allocated 12 schools and leisure centres for use as rest centres, dealing with a total of 2,000 people. If necessary it can mobilise a further 25-30 theatres and commercial premises to act as help and information centres providing residents with additional advice, including signposting them to counselling services. These centres can handle a total of 30,000 people. The social services database can be accessed to identify which residents may need extra help. 

Westminster's social services director Julie Jones says: "I hope that no one will slip through the net. Our experience suggests that this doesn't happen." In the past the council has even arranged pet care for residents concerned about their animals.  

During the mock major terrorist incident at Bank tube station last September, Westminster sent its emergency planning experts to observe and learn. Jones says although the authority's staff have been thoroughly trained, it has not shut down streets or tube stations. "As we have had real experience, the need to have a mock incident is less of a priority." 

Social care staff are the unsung heroes of managing a disaster, says Jones. "They are not in uniform and first on the scene; they are the back-up who stay on and see it through to the end. It is invisible work and sometimes misunderstood."

Swansea - 'Be flexible and prioritise on day'   

In the first three months of 2004 Swansea Council took part in three joint exercises organised by the emergency planning unit Celtic Protector, led by South Wales police. The first mock incident involved people pretending to be victims of a "dirty" - chemical - bomb; the second was a closed exercise with the police and military; and the third was a desktop exercise that reviewed the first two incidents and included representatives from the FBI. 

Swansea has identified about 70 buildings for use as rest centres in a disaster, some of which it can operate with neighbouring council Neath Port Talbot. The WRVS, Red Cross, St John's Ambulance and district nurses will all be in attendance at the rest centres. Swansea can also call in 14 qualified social workers and counsellors to deal with traumatised people. In the weeks following a major incident, Swansea's social services will run a telephone line for people needing counselling. 

David Evans, Swansea's emergency planning liaison officer, is confident the council can provide existing services if attacked although he admits it will depend on its scale and nature. "Our approach is to be flexible and prioritise on the day," he says.

Glasgow- 'Operate on common sense and goodwill'   

Glasgow is divided into nine areas, each containing at least one building identified as a rest centre, with the potential for more. Each centre can deal with 230 displaced people, while Kelvin Hall in the west end of Glasgow can cope with 500. The council's major incident support team - comprising senior social services staff, nurses with psychiatric backgrounds and volunteer social workers - will all attend the rest centres.  

Glasgow Council principal fieldwork officer John Donaldson is realistic about what support social services can provide in a disaster. He says: "If it gets to a point of dealing with 800 people, having identified a large number with special needs, we'll have to look at providing a different model of support." This is not, he insists, shorthand for leaving users without support and says the council would open day centres instead. 

Donaldson says the authority has core preparations of what to do in an emergency, who should be contacted and what protocols to follow. "But when it comes down to it being 2am and someone who is in post has not been through a real life incident, you have to operate on common sense and goodwill."

Madrid  - How did it cope?

When the train bombs went off in Madrid on 11 March the city council immediately mobilised its emergency unit of social workers, Sitade. The unit, launched in 1988 after two major fires in the 1980s, is a permanent department dealing with social emergencies and operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year. It is now experienced in dealing with fires and terrorist acts.  

Madrid also has mobile social units - Samur Social - to deal with "more common" emergencies. In this case, as with medical emergencies, social workers go to the place where the emergency is. This service comprises four mobile units and eight street teams. 

Sitade and Samur Social co-ordinated the many social workers and psychologists who volunteered their services in the aftermath of the bombs.  Social workers and psychologists acted as a point of reference for the families of victims. In the days after the attack they supported them in identifying bodies, arranged funerals and organised lodgings for relatives travelling into Madrid. On 23 March a special office was opened to provide continued assistance to families. 

As the attacks took place on rush hour trains few older and disabled people were among the victims. But some of the victims were the main carers of older and disabled people. In these cases, social workers contacted day centres and older people to put care arrangements into place. 

Meanwhile, those who were disabled by the bombs are being helped by Spain's Association of Disabled People.  Ernesto Cabello, director of social services in Madrid Council's department for employment and services to citizens, tells Community Care it is necessary to have a permanent social emergencies unit that can act as co-ordinator in such circumstances. "In a terrorist attack of such dimensions we have to organise the chaos. Therefore, co-ordination becomes essential," he says.