Lifeline as part of your tenancy
Some customers may have a lifeline service included as part of their tenancy - these include, but are not limited to, customers in Sheltered Housing, Extra Care, and some older persons properties.
Our lifeline service provides 24-hour help at the touch of a button, supporting you to stay independent and providing peace of mind for you and your family.
Depending on where you live you may have a stand-alone base unit or integrated system attached to the wall. With both systems, you'll also be provided with an alarm pendant, which can be worn around your neck or on your wrist. It can be used to call for help from anywhere in the home or garden, within a range of 50 meters from the device.
How it works
To call for help, press the button on your pendant.
This will automatically alert the 24-hour response centre and an operator will answer and arrange the help required.
The response centre will speak to you through the device. Unlike a telephone, it has a very powerful speaker and microphone, so even if you're in the next room, you'll still be able to communicate with them.
If you're unable to talk, the operator will still arrange help from your nominated contacts or the emergency services.
Useful information
Your lifeline is there as an additional support and safety measure.
We encourage you to keep your details up-to-date for use in an emergency. We also ask that you regularly test your equipment and allow access for staff to test and maintain the equipment.
As this forms part of your tenancy, the associated costs will be included in your rent payments.
We ask you to supply a minimum of two contacts who can be contacted in the event of you activating your alarm.
These contacts will ideally be keyholders and live close to you. It's important you make your contacts aware that you're sharing their details and that they may be contacted in an emergency.
In the event, you don't have any local contacts or keyholders we recommend having a key safe installed so that access can be gained to support you in an emergency without damaging your property.
If there's a welfare concern or emergency and no contacts or key is available Emergency Services will be called and forced entry may be required.
It's important to keep your personal details, emergency contact details and property access details up to date.
You can make any changes by calling us on 0800 111 4013 or by activating your lifeline and advising the Alarm Response Centre.
It's important to test your lifeline monthly to ensure that it's working correctly and you're comfortable with activating it in an emergency.
How to test your Lifeline:
- Press the button on your pendant or pull the pull cord.
- Wait for the Response Centre to speak to you through the Lifeline unit.
- Tell the operator you're just testing – they'll be happy to hear from you.
It's important to test each pendant and pull cord separately to ensure they're all working effectively.
The best time to test your lifeline is between 10am and 4pm when the Response Centre is less busy.
When you activate your alarm a call will be placed to our contracted Alarm Receiving Centre. A message will play on your machine to advise a call is being made and an operative will answer to ask how you are.
If help is needed they'll assess the situation and take appropriate action. This may be to call your named contacts, so they can support you or instruct the Emergency Services to visit.
The Lifeline service will continue to check in with you until they know you are ok and have support.
If you accidentally activate your alarm, don't worry.
You can cancel an alarm by waiting 5 seconds and pressing the cancel button on your base unit.
If you're unable to cancel the alarm wait to speak to the Alarm Receiving centre operative and advise them you are okay.
Opting out
The UK’s telephone network is being upgraded to digital – you can find out more about the switch here.
As part of the upgrade programme, we're now able to offer customers who don't live in one of our sheltered housing or extra care schemes who previously had a lifeline as part of their tenancy the choice to opt out of this service. If this option is available to you, you will have received a letter from us.
The lifeline system is an important safety measure for many people, enabling you to call for help in an emergency, when you feel unwell or if you have an accident in your home. The service is available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
If you have received a letter and would like to opt-out of this service please complete the below form: