On 23rd April 2023, in the UK, the government will be activating an alarm on all our mobile phones and tablets. This is a quote from the government website:
“Emergency Alerts is a UK government service that will warn you if there’s a danger to life nearby.
In an emergency, your mobile phone or tablet will receive an alert with advice about how to stay safe.”
This sounds like a good idea, yes?
Except….
Many support services for victims of domestic abuse provide their service users with a “secret” phone. Something to use should they need to, because their abuser monitors everything they do – checking calls, texts, internet searches etc.
With this in mind, it is ESSENTIAL we tell everyone we know what is going to happen because they may need to switch off that phone to stay safe.
Imagine what will happen if an abuser finds out their victim has this lifeline. The irony in the government phrase “will warn you if there’s a danger to life nearby” is not lost. In the case of a victim of intimate partner abuse, the Danger is probably sitting beside you!!!!
This is why solutions need to be tested on all representative groups to ensure situations like this are discussed. This has clearly passed them by.
Please take a look at and share my LinkedIn post. It includes a guide from Refuge on how to best deal with this.
Thank you