The UK’s new Emergency Alerts service is now live

The system will enable people to be contacted via their mobile phone if their lives are at risk in an emergency. The service will be used to warn you about life-threatening emergencies such as severe flooding

Emergency Alerts are messages sent to all compatible 4G and 5G mobile phones when there’s a danger to your life, health or property in the area you’re located. They don’t track your location, need your phone number, or collect personal data. Only the government and the emergency services can send them. If you don’t have a compatible mobile phone, you’ll still be kept informed through other channels, such as local news, radio, television and social media.

A UK-wide alerts test will take place in the early evening of 23 April which will see you receive a test alert message on your mobile phone. You’ll hear a loud, siren-like sound and a message on your screen will tell you about the emergency as well as how best to respond. You’ll be able to check an alert is genuine at gov.uk/alerts

If you receive an alert, read the alert carefully and follow the instructions. You can also opt out of receiving emergency alerts; to learn more about Emergency Alerts, the Government has made available a fact sheet with more information. The fact sheet is also available in an 'easy read' format as well as in Bengali, French, Gujarati, Tamil, Ukrainian and Urdu. You can also look out for the nationwide information campaign or visit gov.uk/alerts