Yellow cold-health alert for North East, North West and Yorkshire and The Humber, 15 to 19 Nov

What UKHSA has issued

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a yellow cold-health alert for the North East, the North West, and Yorkshire and The Humber. UKHSA’s data dashboard gives the alert period as 9pm on Sunday 15 November to 9am on Thursday 19 November 2026, and shows it was updated at 11:59 on Saturday 14 November. UKHSA’s GOV.UK release, updated at the same time, says: “Other regions of England are currently unaffected.” The East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, the South East and the South West are green on the dashboard.

The alerts cover England only. UKHSA’s release says they focus on the health of vulnerable groups “in England, helping health and social care services prepare”.

UKHSA’s release lists one earlier cold-health alert this winter, issued on 10 November, for the North West and West Midlands from 12 to 14 November. Paul Coleman, a consultant in public health at UKHSA, said: “we can expect more as we move further into winter.” The alert shows on our health alerts tracker, which reads UKHSA’s dashboard.

A health alert, not a weather warning

Cold-health alerts come from the Weather-Health Alerting system that UKHSA and the Met Office introduced. They are aimed at the NHS and social care services. GOV.UK says the alerts are given a colour, “yellow, amber or red”, from how big the impact on health could be and how likely it is. Green on the dashboard means no alert, so yellow is the lowest of the three.

UKHSA says yellow alerts are for weather that “would be unlikely to impact most people but could impact those who are particularly vulnerable.” For all three regions, the alert says the forecast weather “is likely to have minor impacts on health and social care services”, including “increased use of healthcare services by vulnerable people” and “greater risk to life of vulnerable people”. The dashboard rates the impact as low and the likelihood as medium. The alert gives no temperature.

Met Office weather warnings, for severe weather such as snow, ice, wind or rain, are a separate system for everyone across the UK. When we checked the Met Office’s UK warnings page on the morning of 15 November, it showed “No warnings” for every day from Sunday 15 to Saturday 21 November. Our weather warnings tracker shows any new warning from the Met Office’s feed.

Who the alert is for

UKHSA says low temperatures raise the risk to health for “individuals aged 65 years and over” and “those with pre-existing health conditions (including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases)”, and for other vulnerable groups, such as people sleeping rough.

The NHS adds babies and children under 5, people on a low income who cannot afford heating, people with a long-term health condition, a disability or a mental health condition, and pregnant women. UKHSA asks people to check in on friends, family and neighbours who are most vulnerable. For everyone else, UKHSA’s own description of yellow is weather “unlikely to impact most people”.

What UKHSA and the NHS advise

Paul Coleman of UKHSA said “it is vital to check in on friends, family and neighbours who are most vulnerable”, and: “If you can, try to heat the rooms you spend most of your time in, such as your living room or bedroom, and dress warmly”.

The NHS says to heat your home to a temperature that’s comfortable for you and, if you can, “at least 18°C in the rooms that you regularly use, such as your living room and bedroom”. It adds: “It’s best to keep your bedroom windows closed at night.” It also says to have heating and cooking appliances checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer.

For older neighbours and relatives, the NHS says to keep in touch and ask if they need practical help or feel unwell, make sure they have food in for a few days, and get prescriptions in if bad weather is forecast. If you are worried about someone, contact your local council or the Age UK helpline on 0800 678 1602 (8am to 7pm every day). If you think someone may have hypothermia, go to 111.nhs.uk or call 111. In an emergency, call 999. Our cold-health alerts guide has the rest of the advice.

Help with heating costs

A cold-health alert doesn’t trigger any payment. GOV.UK says a Cold Weather Payment comes if “the average temperature in your area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees celsius or below over 7 consecutive days”. It is £25 for each of those weeks, paid automatically to people on certain benefits in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland has the Winter Heating Payment instead. Our Cold Weather Payment story explains who gets it and what to do if one doesn’t arrive.

The other help with heating has its own rules, set out in our guides to the Winter Fuel Payment and the Warm Home Discount. If you are behind on energy bills, see our guide to help with energy debt. The NHS also points to the government helpline on 0800 444 202 for ways to save energy at home.

If the heating or power goes off

If the boiler stops, our guides to a boiler not working in winter and a frozen condensate pipe cover what to check before calling an engineer. For a power cut, our power cuts this winter guide has what to do and who to call. If someone at home relies on powered medical equipment, or is older or unwell, our Priority Services Register guide explains how to join and what it offers.

Nothing needs buying because of a yellow alert. If you already plan to keep warm without the heating, our pages on keeping warm in a power cut, electric blankets and heated throws cover ways to warm a person rather than a whole room.

Whatever you use to keep warm, the NHS says: “do not use a barbecue or camping stove indoors or inside a tent”. It advises a carbon monoxide alarm “for each room of your home containing appliances that burn gas, oil, coal or wood”. If you think a gas appliance is leaking carbon monoxide, the NHS says to call the free National Gas Helpline immediately on 0800 111 999. Our carbon monoxide guide lists the symptoms.