The FCDO's published guidance on kidnaps and hostage situations abroad is short (the page shows a last update of 20 May 2024), and it is specific about what the UK government will and will not do. Read next to its Haiti advice, which describes a high threat of criminal kidnap, it sets a clear limit on what a protection plan can assume from the state.
What the FCDO guidance says
The guidance states that the government of the country where the incident occurred is normally responsible for leading the response. Where possible, the FCDO works closely with that government to secure a safe release.
The FCDO says it will keep a dedicated team available 24 hours a day to update families, and that in some cases British police may appoint a family liaison officer. It says it will put families in touch with specialist organisations, naming its partner Hostage International, and will offer media-handling advice and consult with employers where needed. It will meet a released British hostage where appropriate and possible, and help arrange a medical check-up and travel to the UK.
What the FCDO will not do
The guidance is blunt: "We will not make substantive concessions. This includes paying ransoms, changing UK government policy, or releasing prisoners if hostage-takers ask us to."
What the Haiti advice adds
The FCDO's Safety and security page for Haiti says that if you are kidnapped there, "the reason for your presence is unlikely to protect you or secure your safe release". It says most victims have been released after a ransom was paid, and that in some exceptional cases victims have disappeared or been killed.
Planning points
These are Ops Con planning points, not FCDO guidance. The guidance does not mention close protection, employers' insurance or private response firms beyond a general reference to consulting employers.
Settle the response chain before deployment. The host government normally leads the response, and the FCDO works with it and supports families. The FCDO will not pay a ransom or make other substantive concessions. If a principal's cover includes kidnap and ransom insurance or a crisis response retainer, those contacts and the activation procedure need to be written down and known to the team and the principal's family.
Name one point of contact for the family. The FCDO says it keeps families updated. A single named liaison on the principal's side avoids competing channels in the first hours.
Plan on the state response being local. In places where the FCDO has no consular officials, as in Haiti, support from the UK is further removed. Build the assumption that you are the first and possibly only responder into the plan, and rehearse what you will do in the first ten minutes of a vehicle stop.
