Safety and Security 

Be informed

• Find out more about risks in your local area including checking your flood risk for areas in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

• If you live in a flood risk area, find out more actions you can take to prepare your property from the Environment Agency.

• Look at some of the specific information such as flooding and power cuts – find out what you can do before an emergency and what you should do if one happens.

• Sign up for alerts and warnings.

• Learn some basic first aid skills. Check online to find free resources by clicking on the following link: www.redcross.org.uk/get-involved/teaching-resources/community-education-workshops/first-aid-workshop-for-adults 

• Find out if you are eligible to sign up to a Priority Services Register (PSR). Click on the following link:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v80Yb2mT2T3LoEuJWtynb-Tj1F1ga9P_/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108493757608847660095&rtpof=true&sd=true

• Know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water  – you’ll need to turn these off if you have to leave your home due to flooding or for other reasons such as if there’s a leak.

• Keep a hard copy version of this document to reduce the risk of this information being unavailable in power outages or network failures because access is restricted online.

• Talk about the advice on this website and pass on information about the support available – help your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to undertake the simple actions on this website, if they can.

• Swap contact details with neighbours and near-by BK’s and consider creating an instant messaging group or other closed, online, social network for your street or area – these can be an important source of information and support during an emergency.

• Ask your neighbours if they might have additional support needs during an emergency – they may have additional medical needs, be new to the area, be digitally excluded, or not speak or read English well. Talk to them about the help available and how you can support them.

• Make a plan to check in on neighbours if an emergency happens, particularly if the power goes out.

• Follow this link for a Household Emergency Plan overview: docs.google.com/document/d/1fkqpbfcH4NpEGrvL_-2fYsPonDJTLJB3/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108493757608847660095&rtpof=true&sd=true 

• If you live in a city, does a city-centre evacuation plan exist. The example shown here is Evacuation Guidance for Manchester City Centre: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YGmftevD2krTZ7QG3eD2z-eriMpNwqdI/view?usp=sharing

• Know what to do if there was a Nuclear Attack. For more information about this, click on the following link:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u49gh4B6tPsauQMlgABohn6hJJC38h9Q/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=108493757608847660095&rtpof=true&sd=true

Make a plan

• Use this downloadable and printable household emergency plan to record this information in one document. 

• The household emergency document holds the following information:

  • • Decide on a meeting point for situations where you might not be able to return home – this could be a community hub if you have one nearby.

    • Write down important phone numbers.

    • Include the phone number to report a power cut (105 in England, Scotland and Wales and 03457 643643 in Northern Ireland), or anyone you would want to contact in an emergency,

    • include a list of your regular medication,

    • note down the frequencies of any local and national radio stations that you use for news updates, and

    • insurance policy details and contact numbers.

• Keep this record with other important documents such as passports, birth certificates and insurance policies so it’s easier to gather them quickly if you are asked to evacuate your house.

• Add emergency contacts or medical information to your mobile phone (often called ‘ICE’ or ‘Medical ID’ on smartphones) so that emergency services can access this information without having to unlock your phone with a passcode – consider the sensitivity of the information you are including (anyone could see it who has access to your mobile phone) and let the person you’ve selected as your emergency contact know.

• Talk to children about what to do in an emergency, including how and when to call the emergency services – the Staywise website includes information and resources on emergencies aimed at children. You can also help them to learn their home address and if possible, a parent/guardian’s mobile phone number – practise these regularly.

• Part of your plan might be to have conversations with others such that rather than buying all the items you might needindividually, you could bulk buy by getting a group together. 

Financial security

How to prepare

If one payment method is interrupted, it can be difficult to buy things like food, medicine and fuel. So, it’s important that you’re able to make payments in several different ways.

Firstly, make sure you have enough food and other necessities to last a week without shopping. This will reduce the need to make payments during a crisis. Discuss with family, friends, or neighbours what you would do if you couldn’t buy items like food, medicines, or fuel. Calculate the total cost of at least a week’s worth of these items for your family. Keep cash at home, in small denominations, for trading purposes if digital payment methods have been interrupted.

Ask yourself:

• What is my current level of home preparedness in terms of water storage containers, long-shelf-life food that doesn't require heating, medicines, etc?

• Which staple items are missing at home, and that you might need to buy during the first week?

• What are your options if your bank or payment card provider (e.g., VISA or Mastercard) is experiencing issues making it difficult for you to make payments?

• What are your options if your regular shop is experiencing problems making it difficult for you to make payments? Are there other equivalent shops, and can you get there?

• How can you help others, and who in your neighbourhood can help you

Ensure you can pay in several different ways

An important preparedness measure is to have several ways to make payments. For example, your household could:

• Open accounts with different banks, acquire cards from different payment card providers (e.g., Visa and Mastercard), and access to mobile phone payment services (e.g., Swish).

• Have several options for internet access.

• Have several ways of identifying yourself electronically (e.g., BankID and Safe Deposit Box at your bank).

• Have sufficient cash, in small denominations, for a week's worth of purchases for your household.

• Use cash occasionally to maintain your level of preparedness and familiarise yourself with how cash looks and works.

• Keep track of your payment cards and PINs in case contactless payments by card and mobile phone (i.e., “tapping” a card terminal) stop working.

The advantage of cash

Although other means of payment have become increasingly common, cash still plays an important role in society.

• It is the only means of payment that everyone can access.

• Payment doesn’t require any special technology like apps, payment cards or e-ID.

• You can withdraw and store a cash reserve at home.

• Cash is central bank currency, meaning the government guarantees its value.

• No intermediaries are required to make payments with cash.