Government launches three-year campaign encouraging UK households to prepare for emergencies

The UK Government has launched a three-year public awareness campaign encouraging households to prepare for temporary disruption to essential services, including electricity, water, telephone networks and internet connections.

Announced on 22 October 2026, the Be Ready campaign promotes simple, affordable steps that can help people manage everyday emergencies.

It follows an earlier government announcement on 2 October outlining plans for a national preparedness campaign. The latest announcement confirms the campaign’s launch and provides further details about how it will operate.

What is the Be Ready campaign?

The campaign encourages households to prepare for up to three days of disruption.

This does not mean the Government expects a nationwide emergency. The advice is intended to help people manage events such as severe storms, flooding and temporary interruptions to local services.

Suggested preparations include keeping some non-perishable food and bottled drinking water at home, knowing where to find important information and considering what household members might need if essential services became unavailable.

The Government is also encouraging eligible people to join the Priority Services Register, which helps utility providers identify customers who may require additional assistance during an interruption.

Campaign will reach vulnerable households

More than 500 organisations have already agreed to share campaign information.

The Government said advertising and community outreach will particularly seek to reach families with young children and older people.

Advice has also been developed with organisations representing people who may find it difficult to make additional preparations because of their circumstances.

The campaign replaces the branding of the previous Prepare website, although much of the underlying guidance remains unchanged.

Preparing without unnecessary expense

Emergency preparedness need not involve buying specialist survival equipment.

A few additional tins of food, a working torch, spare batteries and a written list of important telephone numbers can provide a useful starting point.

Households can also use our free household emergency plan template or consult our UK emergency kit checklist.

The Government’s advice emphasises gradual preparation rather than large-scale stockpiling.