OPINION: How can the government ensure the digital telecare switchover happens safely?

Originally published in The i Paper 30 August 2025. Permission to publish all opinion pieces authored by Rocio Concha, sought and granted on 3 July 2025.

Personal alarms are lifelines for vulnerable people in society. However, the functionality of some of these essential alarms is now at risk due to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) being switched off.  

Industry has set a final deadline for the time the PSTN will be switched off to January 2027 - but in reality many people have already moved to digital landlines. That means that for those people, old analogue-only personal alarms will no longer work when connected to a wall-mounted telephone socket.

That’s why new research from Which? on the sale of soon-to-be outdated analogue-only alarms is such a cause for concern. 

When we looked at the websites of seven major telecare device providers earlier this month, three were still selling analogue devices. In some cases, the analogue devices were a cheaper option, plus providers referred to their digital alternatives as an upgrade or offering 'ongoing peace of mind'

SureSafe, one of the largest providers of personal alarms, was selling three devices requiring an analogue landline, yet the product listings made no mention of the digital transition or the risk that they may not work properly. It did, however, update its website after being contacted by Which?, adding advice that the three devices are analogue only and fixing an error that saw them included on its list of digital alarms. 

Careline365 and LifeConnect 24 framed their digital alternatives as a ‘strongly recommended’ upgrade, but Which? believes the language of ‘upgrades’ is at best problematic since it fails to convey the potentially life-saving need for switching to digital alarms. 

Once we contacted them, both providers changed the language on their site to more clearly state that these products require a traditional landline and are a short-term, last resort option. While these providers now offer clear explanations on their websites that their analogue alarms may not work or will soon stop working, Which? believes that they may be sending mixed signals by continuing to sell these products at all. 

Which? believes these devices should be removed from sale. However, as well as major telecare providers, there are many smaller private telecare providers throughout the UK, and a safe digital transition requires all of them to act, too.

Every provider, no matter their size, must ensure it doesn’t breach consumer law provisions. The law, and your rights as a consumer, says that all products on sale must be ‘fit for a particular purpose’ and of ‘satisfactory quality’, taking into account (amongst other things) an item’s durability and essential purpose. However, with a clear deadline for switching to digital devices, Which? is concerned that some providers still selling analogue alarms without clear warnings to customers of the limits of these devices could ultimately put lives at risk if they don’t work as expected. 

In its Telecare National Action Plan, which was published in February this year, the government states that ‘for analogue telecare devices to be phased out, the sale and purchasing of analogue devices needs to be stopped. It goes on to say that the government expects sellers to have stopped selling analogue devices.

It’s been public knowledge that the analogue network will be retired in 2027. In fact, the analogue-to-digital switchover was initially earmarked for 2025, which makes the continued sale of analogue-only alarms even more unjustified in our view. 

The government, Trading Standards and the Office for Product Safety and Standards must do more to ensure these products are removed from sale and that tough action is taken against providers still selling analogue-only devices. 

A spokesperson for Careline365 and LifeConnect24 told Which? ‘there remains a small minority of vulnerable consumers for whom an analogue device may be the only way to ensure their safety and that they remain protected during the transition to digital’. SureSafe similarly told us that analogue devices are only needed where no mobile signal or internet exists and an analogue line remains, and that they have ‘refined our messaging in response to make this clearer for our customers using analogue as their only option.’ All three companies said that they had been preparing for the digital switchover for many years and that the vast majority of products sold were digital only.