On Sunday 23 April at 3pm, the UK Government will be testing the new Emergency Alerts service.
This new service has been designed to inform as many people as possible about a life-threatening emergency nearby and will come to you via your smartphone or tablet. The Government doesn’t need to know your phone number or your location to be able to send these alerts to you.
Alerts may be sent in cases of severe flooding, fire or extreme weather and will only be used by the emergency services or any departments that deal with emergencies on behalf of the Government.
The alert you hear/see on the evening of 23 April will only be a test to check the system words. You may find your device vibrates, make a loud siren-like noise, and reads out the alert. It will last for about 10 seconds. You can read more about the Emergency Alerts service and watch a video about what would happen on the Government website.
When the test alert is sent in April, you don’t need to do anything, nor do you need to be concerned.