UK Government Resilience Framework published

The UK Government Resilience Framework was published in December 2022. The 2023 National Risk Register, published the following year, records that the Framework "set out the core principle that developing a shared understanding of the risks we face is fundamental"¹. The Framework is the development covered here; the Register is the later document that describes it.

The Register states that it is the external version of the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA), the government's assessment of the most serious risks facing the UK, and that it includes information about 89 risks within 9 risk themes². For the first time since the Register was first published in 2008, the 2023 edition aligns with the structure and content of the classified internal NSRA¹. The government describes the Register as more transparent than ever, with information excluded only where there is a specific reason, such as national security or commercial confidentiality². The Register states that it is not targeted at the general public¹.

The assessment behind it is evidence led, with 25,000 pieces of data used in the latest full assessment, finalised in autumn 2022¹. Non-malicious risks are now assessed over 5 years, while assessment timescales for malicious risks remain at 2 years¹. Risks are assessed as "reasonable worst-case scenarios", with impact scored across 7 broad dimensions on a scale of 0 to 5, and likelihood scored from 1 to 5².

The Register's foreword, by the Rt Hon Oliver Dowden CBE MP, Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office, says the UK faces an ever-changing and growing set of risks, citing the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of climate change, and states that "all of society needs to work together to strengthen our defences and build a more resilient nation"².

Why it matters for households

The Framework's stated principle is that a shared understanding of risk underpins preparation and recovery¹. The Register that followed sets out the risks the government assesses, including storms, flooding, heatwaves, low temperatures and snow, drought, poor air quality, pandemic and emerging infectious disease, and failures of electricity, gas and water infrastructure². It also lists cyber attacks on the health and social care system, the transport sector and telecommunications systems². The Register states that it is not targeted at the general public¹; its chapter on individuals and communities includes preparedness advice, and it records that the government published the Community Resilience Development Framework and guidance on planning the coordination of spontaneous volunteers in 2019². The Register also records that the government has launched the Emergency Alerts service, to get urgent messages quickly to mobile phones when there is a risk to life¹.

What happens next

The Register records that the government's white paper on AI, published in 2023, commits to establishing a central risk function that will identify and monitor the risks that come from AI, and that the UK Government has committed to hosting the first global summit on AI Safety¹. No further dated steps arising from the Framework are given in these documents.

The Framework and the Register are covered in the guide to the UK Government Resilience Framework and Action Plan, alongside the wider UK preparedness pages, including Local Resilience Forums, the England pilots on strengthening them and the Be Ready national resilience campaign.