Cards and apps down
Electronic payments and cash machines can be disrupted, and in an outage you may not be able to call people. Keep some cash, paper copies and numbers written down.
Before
- Keep some cash, a mix of coins and notes, and cards, in case electronic payments or cash machines are disrupted. How much depends on your household's essentials. GOV.UK Be Ready
- Keep printed copies of important documents: passports, birth certificates, insurance details, instructions for any medical equipment. GOV.UK Be Ready
- Write down the phone numbers you'd need in an emergency, including anyone who might need checking on, and a list of regular medication and doses. GOV.UK Be Ready
- Keep a charged power bank, and a battery or wind-up radio for updates during outages. GOV.UK Be Ready
- Check whether where you work has a plan for what to do if you can't contact them, for example in a power cut. GOV.UK Be Ready
During
- Rely on official sources: local authority, government and emergency service sites and accounts, radio and TV, and UK Government Emergency Alerts to your phone. Much online is misleading; be careful what you pass on. GOV.UK Be Ready: hazards
- If asked to 'go in, stay in and tune in', going inside and finding out more is usually the safest thing to do. GOV.UK Be Ready: hazards
Kit for this
Best-value eBay listings for the items this checklist mentions, by class. Prices checked 4 Nov, 22:54 UTC.
Information, not advice. Every line links to the official source it comes from; follow that source and the instructions of the emergency services first.