The Government’s new three-year “Be Ready” campaign calls on households to prepare for up to 72 hours without normal services, amid warnings that hostile states could disrupt supermarket payments and critical supply chains.
Britons have been urged to keep supplies of long-life food and bottled water at home as ministers warn that increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks could disrupt essential services, threaten supply chains and leave supermarket payment systems unable to function.
Wes Streeting said the Government was beginning a national conversation about resilience as it unveiled a new three-year preparedness campaign designed to help households cope with emergencies ranging from severe weather to disruption caused by hostile states or terrorists.
The “Be Ready” initiative encourages people to take practical steps to prepare for temporary interruptions to electricity, water, telecommunications and internet connectivity. But ministers are also widening the focus beyond familiar emergencies, warning that attacks on businesses and critical infrastructure could have consequences for everyday life.
“We are asking households and businesses: are they prepared, are they ready, and do they know how they will respond in the event of everyday challenges that might manifest themselves?” Streeting said.
“But we’ll also need to take the country a step further and ask them: are they prepared for increasingly sophisticated cyber-attacks on our businesses?”
He warned that hostile actors could disrupt essential supply chains, raising the prospect of interruptions to goods and services on which households depend.
“How would we cope if the payment systems at the local supermarket went down?” he asked. “Those are the sorts of our everyday challenges we could face, and it’s right that we ask the country to be ready for those things.”
The guidance does not suggest that widespread food shortages are imminent. Rather, the campaign reflects concern that disruptions to power, communications, payment networks or distribution systems could make it temporarily harder for people to obtain necessities, even if food itself remains available.
The Government wants households to be capable of managing independently for up to three days if essential services are interrupted. The benchmark, already used in preparedness advice across several European countries, is intended to give emergency responders more time and resources to assist people who cannot manage without support.
Among the recommendations are keeping a modest supply of long-life food and bottled water, understanding how to access assistance during an emergency and registering for the Priority Services Register.
The free scheme allows gas, electricity and water providers to identify customers who may need additional help during service disruptions, including people whose circumstances make an interruption particularly difficult to manage.
Ministers have emphasised that many of the suggested preparations cost little or nothing, an important consideration for households already facing pressure on their budgets. The campaign is intended to encourage gradual, affordable preparation rather than panic buying or the accumulation of large emergency stockpiles.
The launch places Britain alongside European countries including France, Ireland and the Netherlands, which already advise residents to prepare for periods without normal services. The Government said it had drawn on international experience and consulted local resilience forums to ensure the guidance could be applied in communities across the UK.
The initiative also reflects a broader shift in how governments approach national security. The potential consequences of hostile activity are no longer confined to military installations or government computer systems: disruption to commercial networks can affect the ordinary transactions that keep households and businesses functioning.
A cyberattack on a payment provider, for example, could prevent customers from paying for groceries even when shelves remain stocked. Disruption to logistics or communications could create further difficulties in moving goods and coordinating deliveries. Such scenarios are possibilities the campaign seeks to address, rather than predictions that a particular attack will occur.
More than 500 organisations, including charities and businesses, have committed to distributing campaign materials through their networks. Targeted radio and social media advertising will follow in the coming weeks, with a focus on people considered more vulnerable during emergencies, including older people and families with young children.
The campaign has been developed with organisations representing communities that can be overlooked in conventional emergency planning, including people living in insecure housing and those who rely on food banks.
That focus is significant because the ability to prepare is not evenly distributed. Households with limited money, little storage space or insecure accommodation may find it harder to keep emergency supplies. Ministers say the aim is to make practical advice accessible while ensuring that those who can prepare do not divert attention from people who need immediate help.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis urged the public to take the recommendations seriously.
“Those who can follow this advice should follow this advice,” he said.
He argued that preparing for events such as severe storms could reduce pressure on emergency services and allow them to prioritise people who need greater assistance.
“This is just the sort of community-focused campaign the UK needs to improve our resilience as a nation,” Jarvis said. “It will bring us into line with European counterparts, where advice like this is a normal part of everyday life.”
The British Red Cross also backed the initiative, stressing that preparedness should complement — rather than replace — organised emergency support.
“We can’t control when emergencies happen, but we can all take some simple steps to be prepared, so that when they do, we are ready to help our friends, families and neighbours,” said Laura Scott, the charity’s director for UK resilience.
She added that clear, trusted guidance could help reduce the impact of crises and potentially save lives, particularly among people at greater risk.
The Government’s challenge will be turning a national awareness campaign into practical readiness across millions of households. Advice to keep basic supplies may be straightforward, but resilience also depends on reliable infrastructure, effective coordination between public bodies and businesses, and the ability to restore essential services when they fail.
The “Be Ready” initiative is therefore both a household preparedness drive and a recognition that modern emergencies can spread quickly from digital systems into daily life. Ministers are asking people to plan for the possibility that the supermarket may be open but its payment terminals are not, or that supplies and services may be temporarily disrupted.
The message is not that Britain is on the brink of a nationwide shortage. It is that cyberattacks, severe weather and other emergencies could interrupt the systems people take for granted — and that a small amount of preparation could make those disruptions easier to withstand.
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