The resilience of an organisation is its ability to achieve intended outcomes through uncertainty, disruption and change. Highly resilient organisations emphasise foresight, preparation and planning for adversity, can manage through disruption with minimised service impacts and expedited recovery, learn effectively from their own and others’ experience, and can more smoothly adapt to challenges and change in the longer term.
This guidance is intended to support UK Government departments, agencies and Arms-Length Bodies (ALBs) in developing their resilience functions to meet the challenges and commitments set out in the 2022 UK Government Resilience Framework. It is not mandatory, but it sets out a common approach for UK government departments to increase their organisational resilience, working both individually and collectively.
The guidance has been developed by the Cross Government Business Continuity Forum, led by the Department for Work and Pensions. It draws on established guidance, recognised good practice from both the public and private sector and relevant British (BSI) and International (ISO) standards, notably the 2022 BSI Code of Practice on Organisational Resilience.
The guidance complements and should be considered alongside the 2023 version of The Orange Book: management of risk – principles and concepts.
