In recent news, BT has announced the withdrawal of its industry-leading Redcare alarm signalling products, a move that will impact thousands of UK business customers and potentially their insurance policies.
Redcare alarm signalling has long been a crucial component in ensuring the security and safety of businesses, providing a reliable connection between alarm systems, monitoring centres and customers’ mobile devices. With new systems no longer being sold from the end of February 2024 and product servicing being phased out by 1 August 2025, many businesses may face challenges in maintaining the same level of security and it could affect compliance with their commercial insurance requirements. Leading insurers estimate that 120,000 business, organisations and private homes across the UK use Redcare.
Around 75 percent of Redcare systems use the old analogue phone lines and will become obsolete by the end of 2025 anyway. Your installer may therefore have already been in contact with you about this.
If you currently rely on Redcare alarm signalling the advice is to promptly seek alternative solutions to ensure the continuous protection of your premises. Failure to address this issue could not only compromise the security of the business but also potentially lead to insurance policy non-compliance. It is imperative for affected businesses to proactively engage with their alarm system providers and insurance companies to explore suitable alternatives and make the necessary transitions smoothly to avoid any disruptions in their security measures.
If you have a Redcare system now, we advise that you act quickly as it’s almost inevitable that the closer we get to 1 August 2025, the more likely installation bottlenecks and product shortages will begin to occur.
Many customers will be unaware of the technological specifications delivered through Redcare and it’s important that the replacement service they choose provides a like for like performance level. Our insurance partner AXA advises that replacement systems that would be considered compliant must be:
- Installed by a company regulated by the National Security Inspectorate or a company regulated by the Security Systems and Alarm Inspection Board.
and - Includes an annual maintenance contract with an appropriate alarm maintenance company or regulated installer.
Alternative remote monitoring alarm systems on the market include:
- Emizon – top specification using both wireless and broadband connections.
- DualCom – uses a combination of traditional phone line and mobile network.
- Digicom – basic and low cost system using traditional phone line only.
Though most business owners don’t need to be familiar with the technical specifications of their remote alarm monitoring, it will be important to take advice from both your installer or maintenance company and your commercial insurance provider.
Once you have established your needs, if you need further guidance whether your new alarm system is compliant with your policy, please get in touch on 01726 871144.