The Be Ready guidance devotes a whole section to talking to others: share the advice, set up a group chat for your street, ask who might need extra help, plan to check on neighbours if the power goes, and teach children what to do. It is the cheapest and most effective preparedness there is, and the hardest to start, because it involves speaking to people.
Why it works
In a power cut the emergency services and the network operator do not know which dark house holds someone on oxygen, a new mother with no formula, or an eighty-year-old who has fallen in the hall. Neighbours do, or can find out in ten minutes. In a flood the people who move the car and the furniture in time are the ones whose neighbour knocked. In a heatwave the person who dies alone is the one nobody looked in on. Community resilience is not a slogan; it is who knocks.
The five things
A street group chat
WhatsApp, Signal, a Facebook group, whatever people already use. Make it clearly practical: "for power cuts, floods, parcels and lost cats". Print a slip with the link or a QR code and your first name and put it through doors. Twenty houses is plenty. Nextdoor-style apps are an alternative but a direct group is more reliable in a crisis.
Who might need help
Ask the group plainly: would anyone like a knock on the door if the power goes, or do you have a relative nearby who would? People will say so. Note it privately (not in the group) with a phone number and what help would be useful. Think too about people who would not ask: anyone new, anyone who struggles with technology, anyone who does not speak English well.
Who checks on whom
Pair up. Two houses agree to knock on each other and on one more vulnerable neighbour in an outage. Write it on the household plan. Agree that if someone cannot be reached by phone, someone goes round in person; the guidance is explicit about that.
Share the advice
Send the group the three-day checklist and the Priority Services Register page when there is a storm warning. Offer to help an older neighbour sign up. Mention the printables. Most people want to do this and have not got round to it.
Know what you can share
Who has a generator, a wood burner, a gas hob, a car with a big battery, a flask, a camping stove for the garden, spare torches, medical training. A street that knows this is a street with a plan.
In an actual outage
- Post once in the group: power is off, 105 has been called, estimated restoration time is X. Saves twenty people ringing.
- Knock on your agreed doors within the first hour, and again at dusk.
- Offer the obvious: a torch, a charge from the car, a hot drink if you have a gas hob, a seat in a warm room.
- Anyone unwell, confused or very cold: help them call 111 or 999 and stay with them.
- If the outage runs into a second day, ask the group who needs food, water or medication collected, and who is going to the welfare van.
Children
The guidance asks parents to teach children what to do in an emergency, how to call for help, their address and a parent's number. Involve them in the street side too: delivering the group chat slips, knowing which neighbour to run to if an adult is hurt. The Staywise resources from the emergency services are made for this.
Volunteering
If you want to do more than your street, the routes are well established. The British Red Cross and St John Ambulance run emergency response and community volunteering. Many councils support Community Emergency Plans and have flood action groups and community resilience networks you can join; search your council's website for "community resilience" or "emergency planning". The Be Ready site's Play Your Part section lists the current national routes. In Scotland, Ready Scotland coordinates community resilience groups.
One slip of paper through twenty doors with a group link and your name. That is the whole first step. The rest follows.
Common questions
How do I start without seeming like a busybody?
Use an existing excuse: a storm warning, the news about the government checklist, bins, parking. Say you are setting up a street WhatsApp or group chat so people can check on each other if the power goes, and hand out a slip with the group link and your number. Most people are relieved someone did it. Keep it practical and low-key and it works.
What if I do not know who might need help?
Think about who you see: the person who is always in, who uses a stick, who has young children, who has a carer visiting, who recently moved in and may know nobody. Ask the group chat whether anyone would like a knock on the door in a power cut. People volunteer themselves or their parents when asked plainly.
What can I actually do for a neighbour in an outage?
Knock. Check they have light, warmth and food. Charge their phone from your car. Lend a torch or a flask. Help them call 105 or their water company. Make sure someone knows they are there. Report it if they are unwell or confused. None of it requires training; all of it requires that you knew to go.
How do I volunteer more formally?
The British Red Cross, St John Ambulance, RVS and local community emergency groups all take volunteers. Many councils run or support Community Emergency Plans and flood action groups. The gov.uk Be Ready site has a Play Your Part section with the current routes.