Operational Resilience Policy: What Organisations Need To Include

An operational resilience policy sets out how an organisation prepares for, responds to, and recovers from disruption. It provides the structure and governance needed to manage operational resilience risk in a consistent, accountable way.

In 2026, resilience is no longer optional - particularly in regulated sectors. Organisations are expected not only to manage risk, but to demonstrate how they will continue delivering critical services under pressure.

A clear, well-defined policy is essential for aligning teams, supporting risk and compliance requirements, and embedding resilience into everyday operations.

What Is An Operational Resilience Policy?

An operational resilience policy is a formal document that defines how an organisation approaches resilience.

It typically outlines:

• The organisation’s resilience objectives

• The scope of services covered

• Roles and responsibilities for managing resilience

• How resilience risk is identified, assessed, and managed

It acts as a bridge between strategy and execution - ensuring that resilience is not just discussed at a high level, but applied consistently across the organisation.

Importantly, the policy should be practical and usable. It should guide decision-making, not just exist for documentation purposes.

Key Components

While the exact structure will vary, most effective operational resilience policies include several core components.

1. Defined important business services
Clear identification of the services that must be maintained during disruption.

2. Roles and responsibilities
Ownership across leadership, operational teams, and risk functions.

3. Risk assessment approach
How operational resilience risk is identified and evaluated, including dependencies on suppliers and systems.

4. Impact tolerances
Defined thresholds for acceptable disruption to critical services.

5. Scenario testing and planning
Approaches for testing resilience under different disruption scenarios.

6. Monitoring and reporting
How resilience is tracked, measured, and communicated to stakeholders.

These components ensure the policy is not just descriptive, but actionable.

Regulatory Expectations

Regulators are placing increasing emphasis on operational resilience, particularly in sectors such as Financial Services & Defence.

Organisations are expected to demonstrate:

• A clear understanding of their important business services

• Visibility over dependencies, including third parties

• Defined impact tolerances

• Evidence of testing and continuous improvement

• Alignment between risk and compliance functions and operational teams

This means an operational resilience policy is no longer just an internal document - it is something that may be reviewed, challenged, and audited.

Regulatory expectations also extend to supply chains. Organisations must show how third-party risk is considered as part of their resilience approach.

How To Implement And Maintain

Creating an operational resilience policy is only the first step. The real challenge is embedding it into the organisation.

Effective implementation involves:

• Communicating the policy clearly across teams

• Integrating it into existing operational risk management processes

• Ensuring ownership is understood at all levels

• Aligning it with supply chain and third-party risk practices

Maintenance is equally important.

As operations evolve, systems change, and supply chains expand, the policy must be regularly reviewed and updated.

This includes:

• Reassessing important business services

• Updating dependency mapping

• Refining impact tolerances

• Incorporating lessons from incidents or testing

In more complex environments, maintaining consistency across suppliers can be challenging. Structured, shared approaches to supplier assurance - including industry communities like JOSCAR - can support this by improving visibility, standardising data, and reducing duplication across the supply chain.

Embedding Resilience Into Governance

An operational resilience policy is more than a compliance requirement - it is a core part of organisational governance.

When implemented effectively, it:

• Aligns teams around a common understanding of resilience

• Strengthens decision-making under pressure

• Ensures accountability at every level

• Supports both operational risk management and regulatory compliance

In an environment where disruption is inevitable, a clear and well-maintained policy provides the structure organisations need to respond with confidence.

It turns resilience from a concept into a capability - one that is embedded, measurable, and continuously improving.