New research highlights the financial return of investing in societal resilience.
Every pound invested in societal resilience brings more than £35 of public value, according to a new report from the National Consortium for Societal Resilience based at AMBS.
Working with Cumbria CVS and supported by DEFRA and the Environment Agency, the report discusses the investments that individuals, communities, voluntary organisations and businesses make in societal resilience, and describes how investing in societal resilience helps to lessen the impacts of disruption.
Study
The 18-month research project conducted a Social Return on Investment analysis to discover the public value of societal resilience. The Consortium worked with a range of partners in Cumbria to develop a transparent model on what investments are made to build societal resilience and how those investments avoid losses and bring savings.
As Consortium co-founder Duncan Shaw, Professor of Operational Research and Critical Systems at AMBS, explained: "The report shows that investing in societal resilience saves money and brings additional benefits. We consulted 90 people closely associated with disruptions such as those from affected households, communities, or organisations that plan for disruptions. The evidence we collected led to the identification and assessment of 74 measures to structure a monetarised model. We specifically looked at what they invested in and what they thought the investment was worth to them."
He added that widespread consultation with the resilience sector and expert reviews further refined the study and gave the authors confidence in the figure of £35.12 of public value.
"This report is about stimulating a conversation and understanding the financial payback of investing in societal resilience. Armed with the £35 figure there are now significant opportunities for the Consortium to influence strategic leaders who question the value of investing in resilience."
Findings
The report specifically measured the value of investing in resilience for different groups:
- For individuals: Investing £1 pays back 15 times over by lessening disruptions to quality of life, property, and travel.
- For community groups: Investing £5,000 in community volunteering brings £176,000 of public value. Resilience avoids clean-up of community spaces and remediating assets.
- For VCSE organisations: Investing £1,000 to increase resilience saves £30,000 if a disruption hits every five years. This includes modest investments in business continuity, insurance and property flood resilience.
- For businesses: Investing £1 pays back 54 times over. Disruptions cause average losses of £191,000 in direct costs plus £17,000 in working days.
- For government: Investing £50,000 in staff time saves government £900,000 and society £1.75m if a disruption hits within five years. Main savings are around economic, injury, and psychosocial losses.
- For society: Investing £1 in VCFSE capability and business donations pays back 27 times. Savings are made from avoiding VCFSE intervention before, during and after a disruption.
Conference
The report has been published on the eve of the fourth annual conference of the National Consortium which is being held at The University of Manchester on February 24th and 25th. The conference brings together partners from policy and practice from across the UK, with almost every local authority in the country represented.
Dr Andrew McClelland from the Consortium added: “This year we have almost 200 delegates attending and the conference continues to provide an excellent opportunity to share insights and identify collaborative opportunities to enhance societal resilience.”
Find out more details about the conference >>
