Explore household preparedness

Northern Ireland's 5 Steps to Be Ready campaign launched on 22 September 2026, the Local Resilience Team confirms. This October explainer looks back at its household tasks.

The Building Resilience in Communities project developed it with DfI Rivers funding and input from partners and the public.

The five starting points

  • Arrange to receive Met Office weather warnings.
  • Check registration with NIE Networks and NI Water's customer care services.
  • Prepare emergency supplies for home and a grab bag.
  • Write a household emergency plan.
  • Use nidirect's Be ready for emergencies advice.

The value is in turning each line into a completed task. For example, a household plan should be somewhere another person can find it. A list stored only on one family member's locked phone is awkward if that person is away when the lights go out.

Check the Northern Ireland care registers

Nidirect's care-register guidance identifies schemes run by NIE Networks and NI Water for households whose daily care depends on electricity or water. It says registered contacts receive priority communication during a supply interruption and advance information about planned outages.

Use the linked provider pages to check eligibility and the support available. In particular, a household relying on electrical medical equipment needs the NIE Networks Medical Customer Care route. Keep any equipment-specific backup arrangements agreed with the care team alongside those contact details.

NI Water's existing explanation of its register also describes a named carer contact, a password scheme for visits and priority bottled water where needed during a loss of supply. That explanation dates from January 2025; these services are background to the campaign, not newly announced benefits.

Use the local planning forms

The nidirect emergency-preparedness page brings together household, flood and severe-weather planning forms. Those are useful starting documents if a blank sheet has stopped you making a plan.

Choose one form, fill in the contacts your household actually uses and discuss it together. If someone cannot carry a bag or easily leave the property, record that problem and work out who can help. A purchased kit does not answer that question.

Our grab-bag guide can help with the supplies. Keep the Northern Ireland service contacts in the plan, and review them when a person's care needs or household arrangements change.

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