The UK Health Security Agency and Met Office have upgraded the current Heat-Health Alert to AMBER (risk score 12). This alert is in effect from 12:00pm on Thursday 11 July until 09:00am on Monday 14 July 2025.
This level of heat is expected to have significant impacts on health and social care services, especially affecting vulnerable groups such as older adults, those with pre-existing health conditions, and people living in care or community settings.
Key impacts may include:
- An increase in illness and deaths, particularly among people aged 65+ and those with medical conditions
- Higher demand on health and social care services
- Overheating in care settings and homes
- Challenges managing medications and delivering services
- Power supply strain and potential travel disruptions
Useful Resources for the Voluntary and Community Sector
To help you prepare and respond effectively, we recommend accessing the following key guidance and tools:
Heat-Health Alerting System – Main Guidance Page from GOV.UK
Heat-Health Action Card for the Voluntary and Community Sector from GOV.UK
Sign up for future heat-health alerts from the Met Office
We strongly encourage all community groups and partners to register for alerts, so you receive updates if the local risk level changes.
Additional Points for Community Partners to Consider
We encourage all community partners to review and, where needed, activate any internal contingency or business continuity plans, such as outreach to vulnerable clients or arranging cooler spaces at community venues. It’s also a good idea to nominate a heatwave contact within your organisation who can coordinate responses if local conditions worsen. Please stay alert to any Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) activation and be ready to support if needed.