The United Kingdom ranked 9th overall in the 2009 HRI, down one position from 2008. The UK’s top ranking by pillar was in Pillar 5 (Learning and accountability), where it climbed from 5th place in 2008 to 2nd place in 2009 in comparison to its peers. The next best ranking was in Pillar 3 (Working with humanitarian partners) at 7th, followed by Pillar 4 (Protection and International Law), where its ranking moved from 12th to 9th. Its rank for Pillar 2 (Prevention, risk reduction and recovery) moved from 18th to 11th, while in Pillar 1 (Responding to needs) it dropped from 10th to 14th. The UK ranked 12th among its peers on the specific indicator for generosity and burden sharing.

The UK was 1st among the donors in specific indicators such as coordination, the equitable distribution of funding against level of crisis and vulnerability, funding to CERF and other quick disbursement mechanisms, and funding to UN consolidated appeals and IFRC and ICRC appeals. It also ranked well around donor capacity for informed decision-making (2nd) and funding to forgotten emergencies and those with low media coverage (2nd). In contrast, it received its lowest rankings in the equitable distribution of funding to different crisis countries, the timeliness of funding to sudden onset disasters and supporting the needs of refugees, each with rankings of 17th compared with other donors. In terms of performance in the crises studied this year, the UK tended to rate above the donor average, with generally good performance in all crises except Somalia, the occupied Palestinian Territories or Afghanistan – where it scored below the donor average.
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