For every £1 spent on societal resilience to disruption in the UK, society benefits from £35.12 of public value

This paper provides evidence that, for every £1 spent on societal resilience to disruption in the UK, society benefits from £35.12 of public value. Many societal resilience initiatives have been unable to objectively evidence the public value they create, instead relying on anecdotes and feedback to convey their vital contribution to at-risk populations. This has disadvantaged societal resilience initiatives that sought investment in competition with other aspects of resilience (such as physical resilience solutions) and other sectors that could demonstrate their public value. This paper describes a social return on investment approach to assess the public value of investing in societal resilience to disruption. The assessment deconstructs societal resilience to disruption into 74 measures, 24 of which are investments, and 50 of which are savings from that investment. The identification and assessment of these 74 measures are based on an extensive review of government reports, academic literature, and the involvement of people closest to disruptions, including affected households, impacted communities, and organisations that plan for disruptions. £35.12 of payback is based on a severe disruption happening every 5 years, which is appropriate for locations such as Cumbria (UK). Sensitivity analysis shows that payback drops to £17.57 if disruptions occur only every 10 years. This allows locations to use a payback figure that is appropriate for their risk profile based on the frequency of disruptive events. The results presented in this paper can be used in funding applications to argue for the merits of investing in societal resilience to disruption.