The Digital Switchover in Blackpool: What It Means for Your Personal Alarm
The analogue phone network is being switched off on 31 January 2027, and every landline in Blackpool goes digital. If a parent or neighbour has a pendant alarm plugged into the phone socket, it may no longer be able to raise the alarm. Blackpool Council runs its own service, Vitaline, and that is the first place to ask.
Key facts
- The analogue phone network (PSTN) is retired on 31 January 2027.
- Blackpool Council runs the Vitaline technology enabled care (TEC) service, a 24 hour personal emergency response service.
- The town covers FY1 to FY4. Neighbouring FY5 to FY8, covering Thornton-Cleveleys, Poulton-le-Fylde, Fleetwood and Lytham St Annes, sit with Wyre and Fylde councils instead.
- Blackpool Council has not published switchover guidance for Vitaline customers.
What is changing in Blackpool, and when?
Openreach is retiring the analogue telephone network by 31 January 2027. Every home line from North Shore to Squires Gate moves to a digital service carried over broadband, with the handset plugging into the router instead of the wall socket. Numbers do not change. The programme is run by the telecoms industry rather than the council, although Ofcom and government both have formal roles in protecting customers as it happens.
Openreach reported around 2.8 million lines still on the old network in February 2026. The households left tend to be the ones who have had the same line the longest, which in a town with Blackpool's older population means a lot of people who also have a personal alarm sitting next to the phone.
Will my personal alarm still work after the switch-off?
Not necessarily, and you should check rather than hope. An analogue alarm sends its signal as audio tones down copper wire, and digital lines do not always carry those tones intact. The Telecare National Action Plan from DHSC and DSIT commits that no telecare user should be moved onto a digital landline until a compatible and working telecare solution has been confirmed, but that safeguard only works if your phone provider has been told an alarm is in the house.
Power cuts are the second issue. A digital landline needs mains electricity, so the router and the phone both stop when the power does. Ofcom requires providers to give at least one hour of access to emergency organisations during a power cut and to offer free battery backup to customers who depend on the landline to call 999. That covers emergency calls. It does not guarantee a telecare alarm keeps working.
How do I check whether my alarm uses the phone line?
- Look at what the box is plugged into. A thin cable into a white phone socket means an analogue alarm at risk. A cable into the broadband router means it has been moved already. Just a power lead usually means a mobile connected unit.
- Work out who monitors it. A Vitaline unit is monitored by Blackpool Council. Anything else will normally have a company sticker with a phone number on the base.
- Press the button and test it. Say plainly that it is a test call. If the operator answers, hears you and knows who you are, the chain is intact.
What about alarms provided by Blackpool Council?
Blackpool Council runs Vitaline, which it describes as a technology enabled care service providing a personal emergency response service for elderly and vulnerable residents living in their own home. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and the Vitaline team can be reached on 01253 477678. The service is based at Municipal Buildings on Corporation Street.
Vitaline is more than a pendant. In partnership with NHS Blackpool and the North West Ambulance Service, it also provides a falls lifting service for people who have fallen at home or in a care home in Blackpool, with a follow up welfare call afterwards and referral on to other services where needed. It works with hospital discharge teams to manage risk when someone comes home. That is a genuinely joined up local service and it is worth knowing it exists.
What Blackpool Council has not published is any guidance for Vitaline customers about the analogue to digital switchover: no timetable, no page explaining which base units are affected, no advice about what to do if a phone line is upgraded first. If Vitaline equipment is in the house, ring 01253 477678 and ask whether that specific unit is digital ready and what happens before 31 January 2027.
What should Blackpool residents do now?
Start by telling the landline provider that someone in the house uses a personal alarm. That single fact on the account is what triggers the national protections and stops a line being switched blind.
Then check the alarm. If it is Vitaline, ring Vitaline. If it is a private unit bought years ago, treat it as needing replacement until proven otherwise. A mobile connected alarm avoids the landline question completely, which is helpful in Blackpool's many flats and converted properties where the broadband may belong to a landlord. Because 3G is already switched off, any replacement should be on 4G.
The single most important point for Blackpool
Vitaline is a council run service with its own 24 hour team on 01253 477678, but no public switchover information has been published for its customers. One phone call asking whether your base unit is digital ready is worth more than six months of waiting for a letter.
Want a second opinion on an alarm in Blackpool?
Our UK monitoring centre in Southport answers alarm calls 24 hours a day, and 99.6% of alarm calls are answered in under 60 seconds. We will happily explain what to check, with no obligation.
Telephone 01704 332840 | info@holdengrange.com
Book a free call with HannahFrequently asked questions
Vitaline. The council describes it as its technology enabled care service, providing a personal emergency response service for elderly and vulnerable residents living in their own home. It runs 24 hours a day and can be reached on 01253 477678 at Municipal Buildings, Corporation Street.
Yes. Working with NHS Blackpool and the North West Ambulance Service, Vitaline runs a falls lifting service for people who have fallen at home or in a care home in Blackpool, follows up with a welfare call, and supports safe discharge from hospital alongside social care.
Not publicly. We could not find any council page setting out a switchover plan or timetable for Vitaline equipment. Ring the Vitaline team on 01253 477678 and ask about your own base unit rather than assuming it is already handled.
Yes. Our monitoring centre is in Southport and covers the whole UK, so FY1 to FY8 are all served. Note that Thornton-Cleveleys, Poulton-le-Fylde and Fleetwood fall under Wyre Council and Lytham St Annes under Fylde, so those areas are outside Vitaline.
Where to start: ring Vitaline or your alarm provider, tell your phone company an alarm is in use, then plan a digital ready replacement. See our SOS pendant alarms in Blackpool page, our digital switchover guide, or read 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.