UKEVENTS URGENT MESSAGE – Emergency Alerts Test

As you will be aware, the Government has announced a test date for the new Emergency Alerts service. This service will mean people can be contacted by the Government via their mobile phone if their lives are at risk in an emergency either locally or nationally. The new Emergency Alerts service will be used to send a direct message only where there is a risk to life. This could include public health emergencies, severe floods, fires and industrial incidents.

The date for a UK-wide introduction message to the Service is this Sunday (23 April) where people across the country will receive an SMS message as part of a national test at 3pm.

We wanted to flag that the message will be sent in accordance with proximity to cell towers, not where phones are registered. That will mean that all international tourists currently visiting the UK will receive it. We are mindful international visitors may be less familiar with the messaging about the test and may therefore raise questions with you and your members/ teams.

More about Emergency Alerts, look out for the nationwide information campaign and visit: gov.uk/alerts. Attached also is a toolkit with further details on messaging.