The Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team (HSOT) released its latest Annual Impact Report, outlining how the team supported the UK Government to respond to humanitarian emergencies during an increasingly difficult year.

Covering delivery across 2025 under the UK aid–funded Humanitarian Emergency Response Operations and Stabilisation (HEROS) programme, the report highlights HSOT’s rapid emergency responses, specialist deployments and preparedness work that enabled the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to act decisively in fast moving crises.

“2025 was a year of profound upheaval,” reflects Rebecca Pankhurst Lapiña, HSOT Programme Director. “Conflicts intensified and crossed borders, while climate shocks came one after another. These pressures would have stretched the system in any year, but in 2025 they collided with a drop in global humanitarian funding.”

Delivering at Pace Despite Growing Global Pressures

Against this backdrop, HSOT continued to deliver emergency preparedness and response at pace, with a strong focus on value for money and operational readiness. The report shows how advance work — strengthening rosters, stockpiles, supply routes and emergency planning — translated directly into faster and more cost effective action when crises struck.

In 2025, HSOT:
• Responded to five major humanitarian emergencies
• Supported the delivery of 8,700 core relief items to over 43,000 people
• Produced 151 maps and 63 humanitarian situation reports
• Enabled more than 270 expert deployments and remote advisory tasks worldwide

As Pankurst Lapiña explains, this approach ensured that “the UK had the expertise, systems and readiness required for rapid, cost effective action.”
Alerts were issued within minutes of major events, and specialist teams surged quickly to support decision making across FCDO headquarters and in crisis affected regions.

Spotlight on Emergency Response: Myanmar

A key case study in the report focuses on HSOT’s support to the UK’s response to a catastrophic 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar in March 2025. Issuing the first alert just 16 minutes after the quake, HSOT immediately began supporting FCDO with situation analysis and setting out response options.

HSOT rapidly surged humanitarian expertise into the UK Crisis Centre and deployed staff to a regional hub in Bangkok. This enabled the UK to interpret complex needs assessments, disperse funding quickly and support partners to improve access to the hardest hit areas.

Through geospatial analysis, humanitarian access advice and technical review of UN proposals, HSOT helped ensure UK official development assistance was used effectively in a highly constrained operational context. As one senior colleague at the British Embassy in Yangon noted, HSOT was “delivering exactly what surge support is all about — hitting the ground running, providing expertise, showing commitment and drive and doing all of it at pace.”

Responding to Health Emergencies when Timing Matters Most

The Annual Impact Report also highlights HSOT’s role in supporting the UK’s response to health emergencies, including outbreaks of Marburg virus in Rwanda and cholera in Angola and South Sudan.

Drawing on dedicated humanitarian health expertise within its core team, HSOT helped translate complex epidemiological data into clear, actionable advice for decision makers.

HSOT supports the FCDO with managing Standby Partnership request – a mechanism for providing surge capacity support to UN Agencies through the deployment of experts to emergencies. This year, HSOT managed 543 Standby Partnership requests for support, of which FCDO funded 73. Those included deploying cholera specialists to support WHO operations, strengthening disease surveillance and enabling large scale vaccination campaigns to help control and contain the outbreak.

People and Expertise at the Heart of Delivery

The report underscores that HSOT’s impact is driven by people, which remained “at the heart of delivery,” Pankhurst Lapiña writes, noting that strengthened oversight and risk management allowed experts to deploy safely and effectively, even into high risk environments. HSOT’s standing team provided trusted, practical expertise across every response, ensuring continuity and confidence during moments of crisis.

In 2025, HSOT managed the deployment of more than 270 humanitarian and stabilisation experts worldwide from FCDO rosters, with around three quarters receiving top performance ratings.

The team’s work in Pakistan following climate-driven monsoon floods exemplified the value deployed experts can add in the wake of a disaster. A senior humanitarian adviser deployed to the British High Commission in Islamabad helped shape the UK’s response, supporting assistance that reached more than 1.2 million people and further strengthening preparedness for future climate shocks.

Preparedness Beyond Emergency Response

Beyond immediate crisis response, the Annual Impact Report also showcases HSOT’s work on safeguarding, roster management, humanitarian policy advice and supply chain resilience. This includes training exercises to strengthen pandemic preparedness, and technical advice to anticipate global supply chain disruptions.

Ultimately, she emphasises the importance of maintaining readiness in an increasingly uncertain world. “As we look to the year ahead, we do so with stronger capability, a renewed commitment to value for money, and a clear focus on ensuring the UK can act quickly and effectively when the next crisis hits.”

While global humanitarian needs continue to grow, the team’s achievements of 2025 demonstrate the value of preparation, partnership and purpose, and the vital role HSOT plays in supporting the UK’s humanitarian response capabilities worldwide.

Read the full report.