Vital telecare equipment used by nearly two million older and disabled people, as well as traffic lights and cash machines, could cease to operate unless councils get more support with preparing for the upgrade to next-generation digital networks.
The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), which is based on copper wires, will be switched off by 2025 as the UK’s telecoms infrastructure is upgraded to digital connectivity.
The LGA said services that rely on the existing network to help people live independently at home, including personal alarms and telephone handsets used by older and disabled people, will need to be reconnected, upgraded or replaced altogether.
While the PSTN upgrade is being undertaken by the telecoms industry, the LGA says councils need greater support with data sharing, testing, awareness and funding to prepare residents for the switchover, alongside better coordination from government.
An exclusive LGA survey found almost 40 per cent of councils responding do not yet know how they will pay for the move to digital telecare, in the wake of local government funding reductions over the past decade.
Cllr Mark Hawthorne MBE, LGA Digital Connectivity Spokesperson, said: “Councils have a critical role to play in the digital switchover that is fast approaching and will impact on a whole range of vital services, including adult social care.
“Our survey shows that unless action is taken now to support councils to help their residents and suppliers with this change, we face the prospect of serious disruption to people’s lives, including most urgently those who use personal devices such as alarms and fall detectors to stay safe in their own homes.”
