Charnwood Lifeline

Charnwood Lifeline supports independent living and provides peace of mind.

What is it?

• monitoring/alert call emergency response 24 hours per day 7 days a week every week
• on call warden 24 hours per day 7 days a week every week
• a wearable pendant or wristband, alarm unit and key safe
• gives increased independence, confidence and security in the comfort of your own home
• managed by Charnwood Borough Council

Who qualifies for it?

There are no qualifying criterias for accessing the service. Regardless of your age or your circumstances, if you feel the Lifeline service is right for you, there is no reason why you can't use the service.

Important changes to packages as of January 1, 2024

As of January 1, 2024, the Standard Lifeline packages (1-3) will no longer be available.

We are withdrawing the Standard Lifeline packages in preparation for the digital switch over on all UK telephone lines. The digital roll out has already started within Charnwood, and by the end of 2025 all UK telephone lines will be on the new Digital Network.

Our standard lifeline units rely on a working landline telephone, and they will not be 100% reliable with the new digital network, the standard lifeline would not be able to make an emergency call if there is a power failure as the digital phoneline goes down.

Our GSM Smart Hub packages (4-6) are still available.

We are also launching our new Digital Lifeline Reach IP Lifelines.

Advantages of the new Reach IP Lifeline

• Works using the mobile network with a built-in roaming SIM card, this allows the unit to use all mobile networks always ensuring the best connectivity.
• A built in 5-day back-up battery, the equipment will work if the unit has been unplugged or in the event of a power-cut.
• The Pendant is waterproof and can be worn in multiple ways.
• Longest pendant range up to 300meters from the home unit.
• All calls to the monitoring centre are included within your quarterly charge, no unexpected phone bills.

 Cost

The cost of new Reach IP will start from £78.00 per quarter or £6.00 per week.

Lifeline pricing

Prices from Friday April 1, 2022 can be found in the documents below.

• Charnwood Lifeline Costs and Packages From April 1, 2022 (PDF Document, 0.17 Mb)

The lifeline alarm charge can be reduced if you are eligible for a Home Safety Grant.

All you need to get started is a live landline telephone point and an electrical plug socket which we can use to power the Lifeline alarm unit. However, if you do not have a landline we can supply you with a GSM lifeline which does not require a phone.

The Lifeline equipment does not affect your existing telephone or internet connection.

Watch the video below to find out how Lifeline helped Jack, 86 from Shepshed and his family: 

If you cannot see the video above, you can also view it on our YouTube page.

What is included?

Lifeline

• Lifeline alarm unit – including all the cables and power supplies
• Lifeline pendant – including a lanyard for wearing around your neck or wristband if preferred
• Secure coded key safe – a secure coded box which holds a spare key to your property
• Access to 24 hour on call Warden – 365 days per year
• Access to 24 hour monitoring/alert call response 365 days per year

We encourage all our customers to allow us to fit a key safe to ensure quick access to the emergency services or one of our on-call wardens when needed.

Extras (at an additional cost)

Fall Detector

• Fall Detector device
• Can be worn on your wrist or as a pendant
• Choice of two models
• 24 hour on call warden 365 days per year
• 24 hour monitoring/alert call response 365 days per year

You can read full product descriptions for all the detectors available.

You can also read about our smoke detectors, which are also available.

How does it work? 

You are given a pendant to wear, this can be neck or wrist worn, which you can activate if you need any help in an emergency, for example if you have had a fall or are feeling unwell such as dizziness or shortness of breath or any severe chest pains. It can also be used if you are feeling anxious, have received bogus phone calls or visitors, if your smoke alarm goes off or more.

Once an alarm is raised our local operators in Loughborough will call you to check if you are okay and see if you need any further assistance.  If you do not answer they will then get in touch with the named contact you give us or send a warden to your home to check that you are okay. If necessary our operators will notify the emergency services to ensure your safety.

A secure coded key safe is provided so that our warden or the emergency services can get into your home quickly if needed.

If you are more at risk of falling you can also ask to have one of our Fall Detectors. These devices provide extra confidence and peace of mind as it can detect if you were upright before and have suddenly fallen and are lying on the floor and are unable to get back up.

If you are unable to press the alarm and don’t go back to an upright position it can be set to automatically send an alarm to our local operators in Loughborough. 

How do I get it?

To sign up to the service simply request a sign-up pack by contacting Charnwood Lifeline on 01509 643970 or email OnlineLifelineEnquiries@charnwood.gov.uk. You can also download and print out the pack in the 'Related documents' section below.

Once you have received the pack, please complete the sign-up forms (please do not post your completed forms back to us, we will collect them when we deliver your lifeline equipment), then contact Charnwood Lifeline to arrange an appointment for your Lifeline equipment to be delivered.

An instruction guide is supplied alongside the equipment and assistance and support is available by telephone.

Customer feedback

We receive great feedback from our customers on a regular basis. Read some of these comments below:

What do our customers say?