A personal alarm is the cheapest piece of independence money can buy: press a button, and within seconds a trained operator is on the line arranging help. The market is crowded, though, and the pricing is confusing because the device is often cheap while the monitoring is what you pay for. We compared the five providers UK families use most, re-checked their prices on 27 October 2026 on each provider's own website, and set out who each one suits.
One provider on this page, Taking Care, pays Look Into a commission if you buy through our link (since 27 October 2026). The other provider links earn us nothing. The commission does not change the order of the table or anything we say about any provider. Prices were re-checked on 27 October 2026 on each provider's own site and are shown the way the provider states them. Most quote prices without VAT, because most buyers qualify for VAT relief. Prices change often in this market, so confirm before you order.
Prices and specs last checked by Look Into on 27 October 2026 · next check 22 December 2026 · how we picked
The short version
| Provider | Monitoring from | Setup fee | Stands out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Careline365 | About £1 a day (£360 a year paid annually) | £99 one-off for the alarm | Fall detection on all three alarms |
| SureSafe | £15.99/month paid annually (£191.88), renews at £165 a year | £49 | Cheapest 24/7 monitored plan we found; family-monitored GPS option |
| LifeConnect24 | £30/month, or £360 a year with one month free | None listed | Fall detection included on every listed plan |
| Telecare24 | £15/month paid annually; fall alarm £19/month | £45 | Cheapest fall-detection plan we found |
| Taking Care (affiliate link) | £24.49/month (£293.88 a year); fall alarm £28.49/month | £69.99 | Age UK partnership, widest product range |
Budget £15 to £30 a month for monitored cover in October 2026, plus a set-up or equipment fee of up to £99. Fall detection is now included on many plans and adds about £4 a month where it is not, and GPS alarms that work away from home start at about £21 a month.
How monitored alarms work
You wear a pendant or wristband. Pressing it connects you to a 24-hour response centre, where an operator speaks to you through the base unit (or the pendant itself on mobile models), checks what has happened, and calls your named contacts or an ambulance. Look for a provider whose response centre is TSA accredited: it means the monitoring service is independently audited.
Four decisions before you buy
1. Home alarm or GPS alarm?
A standard alarm works in and around the house, typically up to 100 to 300 metres from the base unit. If the person still walks to the shops or works in the garden beyond that range, a GPS mobile alarm with a built-in SIM (such as the SureSafeGO type) works anywhere with phone signal and shares their location with the response centre.
2. Fall detection or button only?
Fall-detection pendants sense a hard fall and raise the alarm even if the wearer cannot press the button, which matters after a blackout or stroke. They cost around £5 a month extra and occasionally trigger false alarms; the response centre simply checks in, so a false alarm costs nothing but a short conversation.
3. Will it work with a digital phone line?
The UK's old analogue landlines are being switched off, and many homes are already on digital (VoIP) lines. Old analogue alarm units can fail silently on these lines. Any alarm you buy in 2026 should be a digital-ready or SIM-based unit; every provider above sells one, but say clearly when ordering that the home has a digital line or no landline at all.
Power is the second test. On a digital line the call goes through the router, so an alarm that plugs into the phone socket stops in a power cut unless the router has battery backup, and providers only have to guarantee one hour of that. A SIM-based alarm with its own battery does not depend on the router. Our digital landline switchover guide sets out the dates, the one-hour rule and what each fix costs.
Be careful with the cheap alarms on Amazon. On 28 October 2026 we read the first 20 unsponsored Amazon UK results for "personal alarm for elderly". Twelve were pagers that only ring a receiver inside the same home. The other eight sent an alert to a phone app over Wi-Fi, and none of those eight said what happens in a power cut or when the router is down. None of the 20 used a SIM, none connected to a monitoring centre, and none mentioned the digital switchover. They can help a carer who lives in the same house. They are not a substitute for a monitored alarm for someone who lives alone.
4. Monitored or family-response?
A cheaper route is an alarm that auto-dials family numbers instead of a response centre. It is cheaper to run but not free: SureSafe's family-monitored SureSafeGO costs £194.95 plus £9 a month for its SIM (checked 27 October 2026). It works well if relatives live close and answer their phones. The catch is obvious: at 3am, a professional response centre answers in seconds, and a sleeping son may not.
Paying less for it
- VAT relief: most buyers qualify for 0% VAT because the alarm is for someone who is chronically ill or disabled. It is a self-declaration at checkout, not a form-filling exercise, and cuts the price by a sixth.
- Council telecare: many councils run their own alarm schemes, sometimes free after a social care assessment and usually cheaper than commercial providers. Ask adult social care for a "telecare assessment" before buying privately.
- Attendance Allowance: if the person needs regular help or supervision, this non-means-tested benefit (£76.70 or £114.60 a week in 2026) comfortably covers an alarm subscription. Our care funding guide explains how to claim.
The catch
Monitoring fees run forever, so a £12 monthly plan is £720 over five years, and some providers lock you into annual contracts with fees for early cancellation. Check the contract length, what happens to the setup fee if you cancel, and whether the pendant is waterproof enough to wear in the shower, which is where many falls happen. And an alarm only helps if it is worn: the most common failure is a pendant sitting in a drawer.
What changed in this re-check (27 October 2026)
- 28 October 2026: added the power-cut test and an audit of 20 Amazon UK personal alarm listings to section 3, with a link to our digital landline switchover guide.
- Every provider's price has moved since the July check, and the market has moved up. In July we put monitored cover at £10 to £20 a month. The cheapest 24/7 plans we found on 27 October were £15 (Telecare24) and £15.99 (SureSafe) a month, both paid annually.
- Careline365 now sells the alarm for £99 one-off with monitoring at about £1 a day (£360 a year paid annually), replacing the £9.99 a month plan listed in July.
- LifeConnect24's listed plans are £30 a month, all with fall detection, against £12.99 in July.
- Taking Care's basic alarm is £24.49 a month plus a £69.99 set-up fee, against around £17 and £60 in July.
- SureSafe's family-monitored alarm now carries a £9 monthly SIM subscription, so it is no longer listed here as a no-monthly-fee option.
- We added a link to each provider. The Taking Care link is an affiliate link, so Look Into earns a commission if you buy through it; the other four earn us nothing.
Personal alarm FAQs
Do personal alarms need a landline?
Not any more. Every major provider sells SIM-based units that work without any phone line, and these are the safer choice given the analogue switch-off.
Can I get a personal alarm free from the council?
Sometimes. Councils run telecare schemes and some fund them after a care needs assessment; others charge a small weekly fee that still undercuts commercial providers. It is always worth asking before you buy. Attendance Allowance is not restricted in how it is spent either, so it can go towards the monthly fee; our care funding guide sets out the current rates and who qualifies.
What happens when the button is pressed?
The response centre answers, usually within a minute, speaks to the wearer, and escalates: first the named contacts and keyholders, then emergency services if needed. Details of medical conditions are on file so paramedics arrive informed.
Is there VAT on personal alarms?
Not for most buyers. Alarms bought for someone chronically ill or disabled qualify for 0% VAT through a simple declaration when ordering.
For how alarms fit into the wider picture of keeping someone safe at home, see our personal alarms overview and the care hub.
This page is part of Look Into's UK household cost research. For the costed figures behind it, with capture date, method and sources, see the UK Alarm Monitoring Cost report.