The government's guidance asks households to cope for three days and asks communities to plan who checks on whom. It says nothing about where people go. Rest centres open for evacuations, not power cuts; the warm spaces of recent winters have mostly closed. In a long outage, the useful place is the one with a kettle, a charger and a member who knows the street. Most towns already have that building. It is the Men's Shed, the village hall, the bowls club, the scout hut or the church room. This page is how to switch it on.

Written for Men's Sheds, works for anyone

Sheds fit unusually well: a workshop, practical members, and a membership that overlaps with the people most at risk in a power cut. But every section below applies equally to a WI, a parish hall committee, an allotment society or a residents' association. Replace "shed" with your building.

The Shed Box

One lidded crate, kept where the keyholders can reach it in the dark. About £300 new, less with donations from members' garages. Tick what you have.

The "shed's open" rule

The plan fits on one side of A4 and the printable version has the lines to fill in. The rule itself:

  1. The trigger

    If the power has been off for more than three hours, or a red or amber weather warning is in force, a keyholder opens the shed. Nobody needs to ask permission; the trigger is the permission.

  2. The hours

    Ten until four, or whatever your keyholders can cover. Put the hours on the door poster and in the group chat.

  3. The offer

    Tea, warmth, phone charging, the radio on, and company. That is all. It is enough.

  4. The round

    Two members take the list and knock on every door on it within the first two hours, and again before closing. Anyone not answering the door gets a second knock and a phone call to their named contact.

  5. The escalation

    Anyone unwell, confused or very cold: help them call 111 or 999 and stay with them. Anyone whose medical equipment has failed: 999, and their network operator on 105. The shed does not take that on itself.

  6. The message

    One post in the street group chat: "Shed is open, 10 till 4, tea and charging, come in." Repeat each morning it is still off.

Four sessions a year

None of these need an expert. They are shed activities with a purpose.

Build your kit evening

  • Members bring the tins and water they would buy anyway
  • The shed provides boxes, labels and the printed checklist
  • Everyone leaves with a labelled, dated box
  • Best in the autumn, before storm season

Clocks-change check day

  • Twice a year, the weekend the clocks go forward and back
  • Tune the radios, test the torches, recharge the power banks
  • Members bring their own kits for a ten-minute check
  • Review the list and the keyholders

Documents afternoon

  • A printer, a scanner and a stack of folders
  • Members copy their documents and write their household plan
  • Help anyone who cannot do it alone; it is the most useful hour many will have all year

Neighbour alarm round

  • Pair up and test smoke alarms for older neighbours on the list
  • Fire and rescue services often support this and supply alarms
  • Sign people up to the Priority Services Register while you are there

Paying for it

The box is the kind of thing community funds exist for, and a one-page plan plus a kit list is a complete application.

  • Your electricity network operator. In central southern England that is Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks, whose Resilient Communities Fund gives grants to community groups for power cut equipment and planning. The other operators run similar community funds. Find yours by postcode at powercut105.com and search its website for "community fund" or "resilience".
  • National Lottery Awards for All. Small grants for community projects; a resilience box and sessions fit the criteria.
  • Parish, town and district council grants. Most have a small community grants pot and like projects that reach older residents.
  • Members' garages. Half the box is already in them. Ask before you buy.

What to avoid

  • Storing food for the public. That is a food bank, with everything that involves. Keep a members' box of tea, biscuits and long-life milk and leave it there.
  • Medical promises. Charging a phone is fine. Running anyone's oxygen concentrator or dialysis is not; that is the network operator's job and the reason the Priority Services Register exists.
  • Generators indoors. Or near a window or door. Carbon monoxide kills people every winter who were trying to keep warm. A battery station removes the problem.
  • Anything bigger than the one page. If the plan needs a committee to run it, it will not run. One trigger, one offer, one list, three keyholders.

Start local: two sheds in East Hampshire

This site is written in East Hampshire, and the plan is being offered to the two sheds nearest to it first. If you belong to either, or to any shed, hall or club anywhere, take the plan to your next committee meeting as a fixed-cost pilot: a £300 box, one side of A4, and a review after the next power cut.

Liss

Liss Men's Shed

Newman Collard Pavilion, Hillbrow Road, Liss GU33 7LE. A village shed on a playing field with a pavilion kitchen, which is exactly the building this plan needs.

Shed website Petersfield

Petersfield Men's Shed

Heath Road, Petersfield GU31 4DU. A town shed in its own premises, shortlisted for the UK Men's Sheds Association's Shed of the Year.

Shed website Everywhere else

Find your nearest shed

The UK Men's Sheds Association's shed finder lists around a thousand sheds by postcode. No shed nearby? The plan works for a village hall, WI, allotment society or church room just the same.

Shed finder

Scaling it

There are around a thousand Men's Sheds in the UK and many thousands of halls and clubs. If this works at yours, tell the UK Men's Sheds Association and your local resilience forum, which councils run to coordinate exactly this kind of community capacity. Everything on this page and the printable plan may be copied, adapted and reprinted freely; a credit to Steady On is appreciated and not required.

Common questions

Why a Men's Shed rather than a food bank?

Food banks hold and rotate food for the public, which is a full-time job with its own rules, and they are already stretched. The gap in most towns is different: a building that opens when the power goes off, with a kettle, somewhere to charge a phone, and people who know which neighbour is on oxygen. Sheds, halls and clubs already have the building and the people. Point hungry people to the food bank; hold equipment and knowledge instead.

Does this need a generator?

No, and it is better without one. A portable battery power station of around one kilowatt-hour costs about £500, needs no fuel, makes no fumes, charges dozens of phones and runs a small kettle outside. Generators need fuel storage, servicing, training and a safe place to run; most groups should not take that on.

What about insurance and liability?

Opening your building for tea and phone charging during a power cut is ordinary use of your premises; tell your insurer what you plan and it is rarely a problem. Do not offer medical support or run anyone's medical equipment: that is for the network operator and the Priority Services Register, which your group can help people sign up to.

Who pays for the box?

Most electricity network operators run community resilience funds for exactly this. In central southern England, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks runs the Resilient Communities Fund, which gives grants to community groups for power cut equipment and plans. Elsewhere, the other operators run equivalents, and National Lottery Awards for All and parish or district council grants also cover it. A one-page plan and a kit list is all an application needs.