Mersey Reporter - Merseybites News

THE UK Government will be running a national test of the Emergency Alerts system on:- Sunday, 7 September 2025, at:- 3 pm. The Emergency Alerts system is designed to provide warnings and advice in a life threatening emergency, such as:-

Wildfires,
Severe Flooding.
Extreme Storms.

This test will run nationally, and the UK Government does not need to know your phone number or location to send you an alert.

People within the likes of the US and Japan will be familiar with the alerts, which are designed to tell you about simple and effective steps you can take to be more prepared for an emergency within your area.

Emergency alerts will only be sent by:-

The UK's Emergency Services.
The UK Government's departments, agencies, and public bodies that deal with emergencies.

You are automatically able to get Alerts in the UK based on your current location, not just where you live or work. You do not need to turn on location services to receive alerts as the message is sent via local cell (phone) masts, allowing for a trargeted responce to an incident within your area.

When this Test Alert is sent, it will be the same as what happens when you get a real Emergency Alert, and it will mean your mobile phone or tablet may:-

Make a loud siren like sound, even if it's set on silent.
Vibrate. The vibration will last for about 10 seconds.
Read out the alert.

WHAT TO DO!!!
If you get an alert, stop what you're doing and follow the instructions in the alert.
If you're driving or riding when you get an alert.
Do not read or respond to an emergency alert while driving or riding.

Find somewhere safe and legal to stop before reading the message. If there's nowhere safe and legal to stop, and nobody else is in the vehicle to read the alert, you can listen to news on live radio to find out about the emergency.
It's still illegal to use a handheld device while driving or riding, even to respond to these Alerts!

An Emergency Alert will include a:- phone number or a link to the:- Gov.UK/prepare website for more information.

If you cannot receive emergency alerts:-

If you do not have a compatible device, you’ll still be informed about an emergency. The emergency services have other ways to warn you when there is a threat to life.
Emergency Alerts will not replace local news, radio, television, or social media.
If you’re deaf, hard of hearing, blind or partially sighted
If you have a vision or hearing impairment, audio and vibration attention signals will let you know you have an emergency alert if accessibility notifications have been enabled on your mobile phone or tablet.

Alert languages...

Emergency alerts will be sent in English. In Wales, they may also be sent in Welsh. The UK Government found that the message did not reach around 7% of compatible devices.

The last time the system was used in this way, for a national test, was in April 2023. Back then, it failed to work on one of Britain's biggest mobile networks:- Three. When checking, the UK Government found that this error meant the message did not reach around 7% of compatible mobile devices (around 10 million devices) that used the mobile phone network. The UK's Cabinet Office said at the time that the problems uncovered would be reviewed and addressed ahead of another test. It is hoped that this test will demonstrate that the errors in 2023 have now been fixed. Interestingly, many of you might have already received these types of alerts on your phones within the UK since the first national test of the system, as the UK's Emergency Alerts system has been deployed 3 times since its launch in April 2023 for real emergencies.

February 2024 - Alerted residents in Plymouth about an unexploded WWII bomb.
December 2024 - Alerted residents in Wales and the South West about Storm Darragh.
January 2025 - Alerted residents in Scotland and Northern Ireland about Storm Éowyn.

A simple version of the system was also used for giving updates during the Covid19 lockdowns.

More information can be found on:- Gov.UK/Alerts

Events in the Liverpool City Region:-