The Digital Switchover in Bath: What It Means for Your Personal Alarm

The analogue phone network is retired on 31 January 2027. Every landline in Bath, Keynsham, Midsomer Norton and the Chew Valley villages will be digital by then. If an older relative has a pendant alarm plugged into a phone socket, it may need replacing, and in Bath there is an extra wrinkle worth knowing about.

What is changing in Bath, and when?

Openreach is retiring the analogue phone network by 31 January 2027, and every home telephone line in Bath moves to a digital service that carries calls over the broadband connection instead. The change is driven by the telecoms industry, not the council, so B&NES cannot delay it for a particular street. Your number stays the same and for most people the only visible difference is that the phone plugs into the broadband router rather than the wall socket.

Openreach reported around 2.8 million lines still on the old network in February 2026, so the remaining work is concentrated on households not yet contacted, which often means older people who have kept the same line for decades.

Will my personal alarm still work after the switch-off?

It depends entirely on how the alarm connects, and you should assume it needs checking. An analogue alarm dials the monitoring centre using tones down a copper line, and on a digital line those tones can be distorted or dropped. That is why the Telecare National Action Plan, published by DHSC and DSIT, commits that no telecare user should be migrated to a digital landline without someone first confirming a compatible and working telecare solution is in place.

A second issue catches people out. A digital landline needs mains power at the house, so if the electricity fails the router stops and the phone goes with it. Ofcom requires providers to give at least one hour of access to emergency organisations during a power cut, and to offer battery backup free of charge to customers who depend on their landline to call 999. That covers reaching the emergency services. It does not guarantee a telecare device keeps working.

How do I check whether my alarm uses the phone line?

1. Look behind the base unit. A thin cable running into a white phone socket on the skirting board means an analogue alarm at risk. A cable into the broadband router means it has already moved to digital. No cable beyond the power lead usually means a mobile unit.
2. Find out who monitors it. There is often a sticker on the base unit with a company name. Ring it and ask two questions: is this unit digital ready, and what happens after 31 January 2027.
3. Press the button and test it. Say clearly that it is a test. A test call is the only way to prove the whole chain works.

What about alarms provided by Bath and North East Somerset Council?

This is where Bath differs from most cities. Bath and North East Somerset Council does not publish a council run community alarm or telecare service on its own website. Its adult social care pages cover a community equipment service, financial assessments and access to the Adult Social Care team, but there is no B&NES branded alarm scheme of the kind Bristol or Bradford operate.

Instead the council signposts residents to Live Well B&NES, its own directory, where independent alarm providers are listed. The directory is honest about its limits, stating that services are responsible for the accuracy of their own information and that Live Well B&NES checks suitability for inclusion but does not vet or visit services.

So if the alarm came from a private company, nobody at the Guildhall is tracking that equipment or planning an upgrade. B&NES has also not published anything setting out what it is doing about analogue to digital telecare migration. If a social worker arranged the alarm as part of a care package, the Adult Social Care team is the right first call. Otherwise the checking sits with you.

What should Bath residents do now?

Start with the phone line, because that has the fixed deadline. Ring the landline provider, say plainly that someone in the house uses a personal alarm, and ask for it to be recorded on the account. That one sentence triggers the protections in the Telecare National Action Plan.

Then deal with the alarm. If it plugs into the phone socket, plan to replace it rather than hoping it survives. A mobile connected alarm sidesteps the landline question, which suits a Georgian flat in Bathwick with awkward broadband as much as a cottage in Chew Magna. Note that 3G has already been switched off, so any replacement should be on 4G.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start: check the alarm, ring the landline provider, then look at a digital ready replacement. Read our digital switchover guide, compare devices on our SOS pendant alarms in Bath page, or see what the 2027 landline switch off means for personal alarms. The timetable is published by Openreach. Call our UK team on 01704 332840.

Holden Grange is a UK telecare provider based in Southport, a TSA member and certified under the TEC Quality Standards Framework. Our alarm receiving centre is UK based and operates 24 hours a day.