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

The analogue phone network is retired on 31 January 2027, and every landline in Stockport becomes digital. Older pendant alarms that dial out through the phone socket can stop working. Stockport is better placed than most boroughs, because the council says the telecare equipment it uses has already been tested for the change.

What is changing in Stockport, and when?

Openreach is retiring the copper telephone network by 31 January 2027. After that, a Stockport landline runs over the broadband connection, the handset plugs into the router rather than the socket on the skirting board, and the number does not change.

Stockport Council's own switchover article, first published in July 2023, still says the move will happen "between now and 2025". That date is out of date. The original industry target of December 2025 was pushed back to protect vulnerable customers, and the current deadline is 31 January 2027. Openreach has also said there will be no cliff edge on 1 February 2027, with any remaining lines moved to alternative arrangements rather than cut off.

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

An analogue alarm may not, and that is the one to check. Older units send audio tones down a copper pair to reach a monitoring centre, and digital lines do not always carry those tones reliably. The failure is quiet. The base unit keeps its light on and nobody discovers anything is wrong until the button is pressed in earnest.

Nationally, the Telecare National Action Plan commits that no telecare user will be moved to a digital landline until the communications provider, the customer or the telecare provider has confirmed a compatible and functioning telecare solution is in place. That safeguard depends on the phone company knowing there is an alarm in the house.

Power is the other half of it. The council points out that digital landlines cannot carry a power connection, so they will not work in a power cut. Ofcom requires providers to give at least one hour of access to emergency organisations during an outage, and to offer battery backup free of charge to people who rely on the landline to call 999. That covers emergency calls, not telecare devices.

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

1. Trace the cables. A lead running into a white phone socket means an analogue unit. A lead into the broadband router means it has already been converted. Power lead only usually means a mobile unit that is unaffected.
2. Identify the monitoring centre. Look for a name and number on the base. In Stockport it is often Carecall, sometimes a housing provider, sometimes a company arranged privately years ago.
3. Test it. Press the button, say it is a test, and check the operator can hear you clearly and holds the right address and keyholder details. Do it again after any broadband change.

What about alarms provided by Stockport Council?

Stockport Council does not run telecare in house. Its telecare monitoring and alerts page states plainly that "Telecare is provided by Carecall, which is part of Stockport Homes Group". Carecall works out of Cornerstone on Edward Street in SK1 and is open to anyone in Stockport who would benefit, not just tenants. There are no eligibility criteria and no forms to complete first, which makes it unusually easy to start. The number is 0161 218 1655 and the email is carecall@stockporthomes.org. Installation is normally within seven days, or one day when urgent.

On the switchover, Stockport is further ahead than many councils. The same council page says of the equipment: "All equipment has been tested and will continue to work after the upcoming digital telephone switchover." That is a useful sentence to have in writing. It does not, however, say when an individual household's unit will be swapped, so it is still worth ringing Carecall to confirm what is currently sitting in your hallway. The council has also published a general switchover article that points telecare users towards their service provider and warns that the switchover is free, so nobody should be asking for payment.

What should Stockport residents do now?

Ring your phone provider and say that a personal alarm is used in the house. Ask to be recorded as dependent on the line. This is the step that triggers the national protections, and it takes one phone call.

Then confirm the alarm itself. Carecall customers should ring 0161 218 1655 and ask which unit they have. Anyone with a privately bought alarm should assume it needs replacing until told otherwise. A mobile connected alarm sidesteps the landline question altogether, which is worth considering in the older terraces around Edgeley and Reddish as much as in the newer estates at Heald Green. Choose 4G, because 3G has already been switched off.

Frequently asked questions

Where to start: tell your phone company an alarm is in use, ring Carecall if the council arranged it, then plan a digital ready replacement if it was bought privately. See SOS pendant alarms in Stockport, our digital switchover guide, or read whether you need wifi or a landline for a personal alarm. 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.