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

On 31 January 2027 the UK's analogue telephone network is retired for good. In Derby that matters most to households where a personal alarm plugs into the phone socket, because that connection is the part being taken away. Derby City Council runs the city's Carelink service. Here is what to check.

What is changing in Derby, and when?

Every old style landline in the city is being replaced by a digital connection carried over broadband, and the network behind the old lines closes on 31 January 2027. Telephone companies are running this, not the council. Openreach is retiring the analogue network and each provider migrates its own customers.

It was originally meant to happen on 31 December 2025 and was delayed so vulnerable customers could be better protected. Openreach has since said there will be no cliff edge on 1 February 2027, and lines still on the old network will be moved to alternative arrangements.

In Allestree, Mickleover, Chaddesden or Alvaston most people will notice only a new router and a phone plugged into it. The risk sits with the things that use the line without anyone thinking about them, and a community alarm is top of that list.

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

Only if it is not relying on the copper line. Alarms with a mobile SIM inside are unaffected because they never used the landline. Alarms that dial out through a telephone socket are the worry, and the danger is that they fail without announcing it. The unit looks alive, the pendant still clicks, and the gap only appears when help is needed.

Around two million people in the UK use telecare, according to the Telecare National Action Plan published by the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The plan commits that nobody should be migrated to a digital landline until the communications provider, the customer or the telecare provider has confirmed that a compatible and functioning telecare solution is in place. It works only when someone has recorded that the alarm is there.

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

1. Count the cables. The base unit normally has two. One goes to the mains. If the other one ends in a telephone socket, the alarm is on the line and needs attention.
2. Watch where the phone goes. A handset in a wall socket means the line has not been converted yet. A handset in the back of the router means it already has, and the alarm should be tested today.
3. Read the underside. Note the model and the supplier. In Derby that could be Carelink, a housing provider, or a company the family bought from years ago. Ring them and ask whether the unit is digital ready.

Our article on the 2027 landline switch-off and personal alarms covers what happens next.

What about alarms provided by Derby City Council?

The council's service is called Carelink. It is a monitored alarm service that runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The council states it costs from £7.45 a week for a pendant alarm with access to the contact centre, installation is free, and a key safe can be fitted at no charge within the Derby city boundary. You apply through the council's online form, or someone can apply on your behalf using a referral form sent to carelink@derby.gov.uk.

There is a second route into the same service. Derby Homes tenants have alarm equipment fitted in some properties as a standard part of the home, connecting to Derby Carelink, and Derby Homes states that tenants cannot refuse to have it fitted. If you rent from Derby Homes, the equipment in your hallway probably arrived that way rather than by application.

On the switchover itself, Derby City Council has published no timetable. The only reference we found is a line in the Carelink technology enabled care catalogue, revised in March 2026, saying its digital devices suit homes with no landline and that Openreach plans to upgrade all lines by 2025. That date has passed. Digital Carelink equipment clearly exists; when each analogue user gets one is unpublished.

What should Derby residents do now?

Telephone your phone provider and tell them a telecare alarm is in use at the address by someone who depends on it. Ask for it to be recorded. That single sentence is what triggers the national protections.

Then think about power. Ofcom requires providers to maintain at least one hour of access to emergency organisations in a power cut, and to offer a free battery backup unit to customers who depend on their landline to call 999. It comes from the phone company, not the alarm supplier, and it protects your route to 999 rather than the alarm itself.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start: look behind the base unit, tell your phone provider the alarm is there, and read our guide to the 2027 digital switchover. Our SOS pendant alarm page for Derby sets out equipment and running costs. 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.