Ready Together
What survivors know that plans do not
When an emergency happens, the first job is saving lives and keeping people safe. Survivors live with what comes after. They, their families and their communities deal with the physical, emotional and financial effects for months, and often for years.
Survivors know what it is like to be handed official information in the middle of chaos, to ask for help while dealing with trauma, and to rebuild a life once the response has ended. No exercise or policy paper produces that knowledge. Resilience plans work better when the people they are written for have shaped them.
Taking survivors to the people who plan
We take what survivors tell us straight to the organisations that plan the UK's response to emergencies. Our network includes people affected by terror attacks, floods, fires and other major emergencies.
They speak directly to government officials, first responders, academics and the people who make decisions about preparedness. Planning done at a desk cannot produce the same thing.
Changing how responders and government work
We train first responders and charities so they understand what survivors need, both in the days after an emergency and in the years that follow. We give survivor-based evidence to national work on preparedness, including the UK Resilience Academy. Our Bee The Difference research helped inform the Home Office review of support for victims of terrorism.
We also bring the public, private, academic and charity sectors together on projects that improve how the UK responds when an emergency happens.
"...the Bee the Difference research has been fully considered by the team in identifying and seeking to address current gaps in HMG's support package to victims and survivors – which includes those in relation to children and young people."
Who we work with
When the worst happens, survivors are best served by a response that is shared. These are the organisations we work with, and what our part in each one does.
UK Resilience Academy
We are an affiliate of the UK Resilience Academy, the national hub for training on emergency preparedness. Our part is to bring survivors' experience into the training it delivers across the public, private and voluntary sectors.
UK Resilience Forum
We sit on the UK Resilience Forum, the government's senior advisory group on national resilience policy. We are there so that charities, community responders and survivors are represented when decisions are taken about preparedness, response and recovery.
Home Office Victims of Terrorism Unit
We share what people affected by terror attacks tell us with the Home Office Victims of Terrorism Unit. Findings from Bee The Difference helped inform a Home Office review of support for terror survivors, including children and young people.
UK Disaster Victim Identification
Our relationship with UK Disaster Victim Identification gives us verified information about who has been affected in the hours after a major emergency. That lets us decide quickly where our help will count, locally or nationally.
Casualty Bureau
Working with the Casualty Bureau, we can identify who has been affected by an emergency, so that funds reach the right people. The Bureau also points survivors towards information on charitable support and helps raise awareness of our appeals.
UK Policing
We train police services across all four nations, from new family liaison officers and family liaison coordinators to roads traffic policing officers and senior investigating officers. It means officers know to involve us during a major incident. We also work with the UK's Counter Terrorism Policing Network.
