Whole of society

The Be Ready website's page on how the UK is organised says: "Securing the resilience of the UK is a 'whole of society' endeavour. The UK Government provides leadership and builds capability at a national level, whilst also relying on a wide range of others in society to play their part, from businesses to communities to individuals."

The UK Government Resilience Action Plan 2026 implementation report makes it one of the plan's three objectives for this Parliament: to continuously assess UK resilience, "enable whole of society resilience", and strengthen the resilience system. The report says the resilience system "at its broadest" comprises risk assessment and capabilities and the enabling of whole of society resilience, "including essential services and critical national infrastructure (CNI), local responders, the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCFS), and the public".

The National Risk Register 2025 translates it for communities: "a 'whole-of-society' approach to resilience means that where possible, communities recognise their role in, take responsibility and contribute to the UK's resilience". It says successful community resilience is often based on connection and relationships, that partnerships between statutory responders and communities improve understanding of needs and public confidence, and that there may be ways for anyone who wants to help in an emergency to do so.