Just starting: what this Ready Check result means
You're at the start, like most UK homes. Three small jobs this week will make a real difference.
Five jobs to start with
Picked from the check's questions for this result. Each one is free and links to the official advice.
Do you have 3 days of drinking water at home: 3 litres per person per day?
Buy a few large bottles of still water on your next shop. Date them and keep them somewhere cool and dark.
Free: Read how
Official advice: GOV.UK Be Ready: Water supply interruptions or outages
Do you have food for 3 days that keeps without a fridge and needs no cooking?
Add 3 days of no-cook food to your next shop and keep it in one box.
Free: Read how
Official advice: GOV.UK Be Ready: Be ready for emergencies
Do you have a torch with spare batteries, a battery or wind-up radio and a charged power bank?
Put a torch and spare batteries by the front door tonight.
Free: Read how
Official advice: GOV.UK Be Ready: Power cuts
Do you have a written household plan with a meeting point?
Agree two meeting points at dinner tonight and write them on the fridge.
Free: Read how
Official advice: GOV.UK Be Ready: Be ready for emergencies
Are your key phone numbers written on paper, not only in your phone?
Write 5 numbers on the back of your Alert Action Card.
Free: Read how
Official advice: GOV.UK Be Ready: Be ready for emergencies
If that area is your weakest
Only if you want a ready-made version. Everything above is free.
- Where to shelter: Civilian Survival Handbook (£14.99) is coming soon, not on sale yet. Join the Handbook waitlist and we'll email you once.
- Your plan: Household Emergency Plan Pack (£6.99). Turns meeting points, shut-offs and contacts into one finished plan for the fridge.
Free: the Alert Action Card
The first six steps for a nuclear or radiation alert, a missile or air attack alert, no water from the tap and a power cut, on one page for the fridge, plus a phone version you can open offline. Every step checked against GOV.UK, UKHSA and Be Ready on 3 November 2026. No sign-up needed.
Print card (A4 PDF, light) Phone version (PDF)
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Other results: Good start · Well prepared · Ready. Retake the check in 6 months: check water dates and test alarms when you do.
Civilian Survival Handbook is an independent UK site. This is not an official GOV.UK tool.