The FFC is based in the Operations Centre at the Met Office headquarters in Exeter and is jointly staffed from both organisations.
Chaired by Sir Michael Pitt the review produced a number of recommendations which were published in June 2008, among them was the recommendation that "The Environment Agency and the Met Office should work together, through a joint centre, to improve their technical capability to forecast, model and warn against all sources of flooding".
[2] Its role is to provide better advice to governments, local authorities, emergency responders and the general public via its parent organisations.
It faced its first major test in November 2009 when severe flooding affected Northern England, in particular Cumbria and the town of Cockermouth.
[3] In April 2011 the FFC moved from central London to a permanent base within the Operations Centre at the Met Office HQ in Exeter.