Groundbreaking Index Uncovers the UK’s Resilience Gaps
Credit: iStock.com/coldsnowstorm
All of us have been impacted by major disruption in recent years. From the COVID-19 pandemic to economic shocks and extreme weather, external events have impacted on everyone in the UK. It is impossible to insulate communities from such shocks, but we can explore why are some better able to quickly rebuild whilst others struggle.
Understanding the factors that enable local communities to adapt and recover from disruptive events has never been more critical. However, policymakers have lacked a clear measure of resilience, leaving them without a crucial tool to target resources effectively. Now, researchers at The University of Manchester have now stepped in to fill this gap through the creation of a new Community Resilience Index (CRI).
Christine Camacho, lead author and PhD Fellow, explained to Politics Home that the new index is designed to provide a useable tool for policymakers seeking to understand impact at a local level.
“Understanding a community’s capacity to cope, adapt and transform in the face of adversity is critically important to create a more resilient country,” she told us. “The Community Resilience Index we developed offers an invaluable insight into the social, economic and environmental factors that can hold communities back making them less able to overcome unexpected challenges.”
It feels like a timely contribution. In recent years the challenges of resilience have skyrocketed up the political agenda. The COVID pandemic illustrated stark inequalities in how communities across England cope with crises. While some areas recovered relatively quickly, others continue to struggle. The reasons are complex, tied to long-standing disparities in economic opportunity, infrastructure, and social cohesion.
One region which ranks lower for resilience in the new Index is the South West. Steve Race, MP for Exeter and Chair of the South West APPG, told Politics Home that the new CRI provides, “a fascinating and useful model” to assess resilience across the country.
“I’m disappointed but not surprised that our wider region is at the lower end of the index for resilience,” Race told us. “The CRI helps MPs and others to better understand what our resilience currently looks like, which enables us to better understand how to improve it.”
The Index assessed resilience by looking at 44 indicators across 307 local authorities, uncovering significant geographic variation. Broad regional patterns are evident: northern areas tend to have lower resilience scores than the Midlands and South, with coastal and rural communities consistently lagging behind urban centres. Tendring, a coastal district in Essex, ranks lowest for resilience, while Elmbridge in Surrey tops the list.
The new Index shows that, despite being less than 80 miles apart, Elmbridge and Tendring are at opposite ends of the resilience scale. The University of Manchester researchers are clear that such disparities have a real world impact. Communities with lower resilience are less equipped to handle disruptive events like economic downturns or natural disasters. Recovery takes longer, and the social and economic consequences can persist for years.
Until now, policymakers had no systematic way to identify these vulnerabilities or prioritise areas most in need of support. Dr Luke Munford, Co-Academic Director at Health Equity North, and Senior Lecturer in Health Economics at The University of Manchester, believes that the new CRI will help to fill that gap particularly when it comes to addressing the persistent health inequalities that affect some communities.
“The CRI provides a framework that could be used to explore associations between community resilience and health outcomes,” he told us. “We hope that policymakers take advantage of this opportunity to enhance understanding of how resilient communities foster better health and well-being, providing insights for targeted public health interventions and policies that are data-driven and effectively targeted.”
The researchers are very clear this must not be a report that sits on a shelf. By highlighting areas of need, the CRI provides a roadmap for addressing long-standing disparities and building a more resilient society. The Index is specifically designed to be used to guide decisions on funding, infrastructure investments, and public services.
That is something welcomed by Tan Dhesi, MP for Slough and Chair of the South East APPG. He told Politics Home that the Index confirms that the South East faces a range of challenges, including flooding, deprivation and infrastructure investment. He believes that the new Index can be a helpful resource for MPs and others.
"I welcome this research from The University of Manchester, introducing the first measure of community resilience across England,” Dhesi told Politics Home. “Tools like the Community Resilience Index are useful for policymakers, including those of us at the South East APPG, to inform our efforts to make the region a better place to live, work, and do business."
The potential applications for the new Index are wide-ranging and extend far beyond central government decision making. Local government can use it to prioritise investments in housing, transport, and digital connectivity. Combined Authorities and Local Resilience Forums can incorporate the data into emergency preparedness plans, ensuring they are better equipped to respond to crises.
“Addressing these challenges requires both bottom-up approaches, such as community empowerment, and top-down strategies from central government,” Camacho explains. “That can provide the necessary infrastructure and economic opportunities to enable these communities to thrive.”
Closing the gaps that the CRI has identified requires a concerted effort, combining local innovation with national-level investment. The Index provides a starting point for this work by offering clear metrics and actionable insights. Policymakers now have a powerful tool to guide their decision making, ensuring that resources are allocated where they can have the greatest impact.
A landscape of need: mapping community resilience is available to read on the Policy@Manchester website.
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