📝Vulnerable Residents Register

Helping us know who may need extra support before an emergency happens

During flooding, a prolonged power cut, extreme heat, severe cold or another local emergency, some people may find it much harder than others to manage safely.

Wraysbury & Horton Resilience (WHR) maintains a Vulnerable Residents Register to help us identify local residents who may need additional information, contact or practical support during a significant incident.

You do not have to think of yourself as “vulnerable” to register. There are no medical requirements or age restrictions. A new mum with a baby might definitely be regarded as vulnerable.

If an emergency could leave you unable to manage safely without some additional help, we would rather know about you before it happens.

Quicklinks – What do you need to know?

📝 What is the Register?

What the WHR Vulnerable Residents Register is, how we use it, and other registers you should consider joining.

❓ Should I register?

Who may benefit from registering and the circumstances that can make someone more vulnerable during an emergency.

🤝 What help might I receive?

How WHR may be able to help before and during a significant local incident — and what we cannot guarantee.

📝 How do I register?

How to register yourself or how a close family member can help you register.

📝What is the Vulnerable Residents Register?

The WHR Vulnerable Residents Register is a confidential local register of people in Wraysbury and Horton who may need additional support during a significant incident.

It helps us prepare rather than waiting until an emergency has already developed.

Incidents might include:

flooding
prolonged power cuts
extreme heat
severe cold, snow or ice
disruption to essential services
evacuation
another significant local emergency.

The information helps WHR understand who may need additional contact or assistance and what particular needs they may have.

Don’t wait for an emergency to tell us you may need help

During a major incident our volunteers may already be extremely busy.

Knowing beforehand that somebody:

lives alone
cannot easily leave their home
relies upon essential medical equipment
may not easily receive online warnings
has communication needs
has significant mobility difficulties
has another particular need

means we can plan much more effectively.

Registering before an incident makes it easier for us to plan appropriate support if an incident occurs.

Register With Your Utilities Too

The WHR Register is not a Utility Priority Services Register

Being registered with WHR does not automatically register you with your electricity, gas or water company.

Utility companies operate Priority Services Registers (PSRs) for customers who may need additional support.

Do not assume that registering with one organisation registers you with all the others.

If you are eligible, we recommend checking your registration with each relevant provider.

⚡ Electricity

For Wraysbury and Horton, the electricity network operator is ⁠UK Power Networks.

Its free Priority Services Register can provide additional support to customers with communication, access, medical or other needs during a power cut.

⁠Join the UK Power Networks Priority Services Register

🔥 Gas / Energy Supplier

Check that your energy supplier knows about any Priority Services needs.

If your gas and electricity arrangements involve different companies, do not simply assume that information held by one is held by every other organisation involved in your supply.

💧 Water

⁠Affinity Water operates its own free Priority Services Register for customers who may need additional help with communication, accessibility, medical, physical or mental-health needs.

⁠Join the Affinity Water Priority Services Register

Why register with both WHR and your utilities?

They serve different purposes.

A utility company can identify customers who may need additional support relating to its particular service.

WHR’s register helps us identify residents who may need local community support during a wider incident.

For the best protection, register with WHR and check that you are registered with each relevant utility Priority Services Register.

For more information:

WHR — Power Cuts

❓Should I Register?

There isn’t a single definition of a “vulnerable resident”.

You do not have to:

receive disability benefits
have a particular diagnosed medical condition
have a social worker or carer
be elderly
be permanently disabled.

What matters is whether your circumstances could make it significantly more difficult for you to cope safely during an emergency.

You Might Consider Registering If…

You:

are older or frail
have reduced mobility
use a wheelchair or walking aid
would have difficulty evacuating your home
have a long-term health condition
rely upon electrically powered medical equipment
require medicines that need refrigeration
have significant sight or hearing difficulties
have communication difficulties
have a learning disability
have difficulty receiving, understanding or acting upon emergency information
live alone and have limited local support
depend upon regular carers
would struggle to obtain food, medicines or other essentials during disruption
are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat or cold
have another circumstance that could make coping with an emergency particularly difficult.

This list isn’t exhaustive.

If you’re unsure, talk to us.

We would much rather discuss your circumstances with you before an emergency than discover during one that we didn’t know you might need help.

Vulnerability Can Be Temporary

You don’t necessarily have to need support permanently.

For example, someone might temporarily need additional help because they are:

recovering from an operation or serious illness
temporarily unable to walk or drive
undergoing medical treatment
experiencing another significant temporary difficulty.

If your circumstances later improve, tell us and we can update the register.

Similarly, if your needs change, please let us know.

🤝What Help Might I Receive?

The help WHR can provide will depend upon:

the type of incident
how widespread it is
your individual circumstances
what assistance you need
the number of residents requiring help
the volunteers and resources available at the time.

Our first priority is always people’s safety.

During a Significant Incident We May Be Able To…

Depending upon the circumstances, WHR volunteers may:

contact you to check that you are safe
make sure you have received important local information
help explain warnings or advice
check whether you need additional assistance
help identify an appropriate source of support
provide relevant local information
alert an appropriate service if we become aware that you need assistance beyond what WHR can provide
provide other practical community assistance where it is safe and appropriate for volunteers to do so.

During some incidents we may proactively contact registered residents whom we believe could be particularly affected.

For example, the residents most at risk during extreme heat may not be the same people as those most affected by flooding.

The information on the register helps us prioritise our response according to the particular incident.

Working With Other Organisations

During flooding and other significant incidents, WHR works alongside other voluntary, community and statutory organisations.

However, WHR remains your primary community contact.

Being on the Vulnerable Residents Register does not mean that your personal information is automatically shared with other organisations involved in an emergency.

If you need assistance that would be better provided by another organisation, we will normally:

discuss with you what help is needed;
explain which organisation we believe can help;
obtain your explicit permission to pass your request and the necessary information to that organisation; and
remain your WHR contact where continuing local support is appropriate.

We only share what is necessary

If you give permission for us to refer a request, we will only provide the information reasonably necessary for that organisation to provide the requested assistance.

We do not routinely circulate the Vulnerable Residents Register to other voluntary or statutory organisations.

There may be exceptional circumstances where information has to be shared without prior consent to protect someone from a serious and immediate risk of harm. These situations are dealt with under our safeguarding and data-protection procedures.

What WHR Cannot Guarantee

It is important that registration does not create a false sense of security.

Registration does not guarantee that a WHR volunteer will always be able to reach or assist you.

WHR is a community volunteer organisation, not an emergency service.

During a major or widespread incident:

several residents may need help simultaneously
roads may be inaccessible
conditions may be unsafe for volunteers
communications may be disrupted
our volunteers may themselves be affected
emergency or statutory services may need to take responsibility for some situations.

You should therefore still make your own emergency plans wherever possible.

Registration with WHR should supplement those plans, not replace them.

🚑In an Emergency

The WHR Vulnerable Residents Register is not a substitute for the emergency services.

If you or somebody else is in immediate danger:

CALL 999

Do not wait for WHR to contact you.

For urgent medical advice where there is not an immediate threat to life:

NHS 111 — call 111

Preparing Yourself Is Still Important

Even if you are registered with us, there are things you can do to make yourself more resilient.

Depending upon your circumstances, consider:

making a household emergency plan
keeping essential medicines available
keeping emergency contact numbers accessible
having torches and charged power banks
joining the relevant utility Priority Services Registers
signing up for Environment Agency Flood Warnings if you are at flood risk
preparing your home for hot and cold weather
thinking about where you could go if you temporarily had to leave home
making arrangements with family, friends or neighbours who could help.

Our guidance pages can help:

Flooding — Preparing, Responding and Recovering

Extreme Summer Weather

Extreme Winter Weather

Power Cuts

Family, Friends and Neighbours Matter Too

Formal emergency arrangements are important, but local personal support can be invaluable.

If possible, identify somebody nearby who:

has your telephone number
knows you may need help
could check on you
knows how to contact a relative or carer
could alert WHR or another service if there is a problem.

Similarly, if you have an older, frail or vulnerable neighbour, consider asking:

“If there’s an emergency, would you like me to check that you’re OK?”

Looking out for someone does not mean registering them with WHR.

If you think a neighbour might benefit from the Vulnerable Residents Register, encourage them to contact us themselves or to discuss registration with a close family member.

A neighbour or friend cannot register someone on the WHR Vulnerable Residents Register on their behalf.

A resilient community is one in which people look out for each other while respecting each other’s privacy.

📝How Do I Register?

Registration with WHR is free.

You can register yourself

Come along to one of our Face-to-Face community sessions;
or by phone:

WHR: 07808 654321

You can also speak to a WHR volunteer at one of our community sessions if you have any queries.

Can a Family Member Help Me Register?

Yes.

A close family member can help a resident complete the registration process, but where the resident is able to give consent, registration should be made with their knowledge and agreement.

We do not accept registrations submitted independently by:

neighbours
friends
other members of the community

simply because they believe somebody may be vulnerable.

This protects residents’ privacy and ensures people are not placed on a confidential register without their knowledge.

What if the resident cannot give consent?

If a close family member believes that a resident needs to be registered but the resident is unable to provide consent themselves, please contact WHR rather than submitting a registration on their behalf.

We can then consider the circumstances and the appropriate way forward.

Being someone’s “next of kin” does not by itself mean that they can automatically give data-protection consent on that person’s behalf.

Worried About a Neighbour?

You can still contact WHR if you have a genuine concern about someone’s welfare.

We can discuss what appropriate support or safeguarding action may be available without placing that person on the Vulnerable Residents Register simply because somebody else has requested it.

Where appropriate, encourage the resident to contact us themselves or involve a close family member.

If somebody is in immediate danger:

CALL 999

What Information Will WHR Ask For?

We only ask for information that helps us understand how to contact and, where appropriate, support you.

This may include:

your name
address
contact details
an emergency contact
the nature of any assistance you may require
relevant mobility, communication or practical needs
information relevant to your safety during an emergency.

We do not need unnecessary detailed medical information.

The purpose is to understand what assistance you might need, not to create a medical record.

How Is My Information Protected?

Information on the Vulnerable Residents Register is treated as confidential.

Access is restricted to authorised WHR volunteers who need the information for legitimate community-support, safeguarding or emergency-planning purposes.

All our volunteers who access the data hold Enhanced DBS certificates.

We do not make the register publicly available.

Where the information includes health or other special-category personal data, additional data-protection requirements apply.

We will explain when you register:

what information we hold
why we need it
how we use it
who may have access to it
how to update or remove it.

We will also explain how you can recognise genuine contact from WHR.

WHR Privacy / Data Protection information

Keep Your Details Up to Date

A register is only useful if the information on it is accurate.

Please tell us if:

you move home
your telephone number changes
your emergency contact changes
your mobility changes
your health or practical needs change significantly
you no longer need to be registered.

You can ask us to update or remove your information at any time.

If You’re Worried About Someone

You don’t have to wait for an emergency.

If you know someone in Wraysbury or Horton who appears to be struggling because of isolation, frailty, practical difficulties or another problem, encourage them to talk to us.

WHR may be able to help them find appropriate support even if they do not need to be placed on the Vulnerable Residents Register.

WHR — Help & Support

WHR — Social Isolation

Wraysbury & Horton Resilience

Don’t wait until an emergency to tell us you may need help.

Our Vulnerable Residents Register exists so that we can prepare before something happens, understand the needs within our community and prioritise our limited volunteer resources when they are most needed.

If an emergency could leave you unable to manage safely without additional help, please consider registering.

WHR: 07808 654321

WHR VULNERABLE RESIDENTS REGISTER

Helps us understand who may need local community support.

UTILITY PRIORITY SERVICES REGISTERS

Help utility providers understand who may need additional support with essential services.

If appropriate, register with both.

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