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Adverse Weather and Health Plan

The Plan, developed by scientists and public health experts, brings together and improves existing guidance on weather and health.


UKHSA has produced a new toolkit for 2024 which is intended to provide basic health information that can be communicated during hot spells so that the right messages reach the right people at the right time. The toolkit supports UKHSA’s Adverse Weather and Health Plan (AWHP) and Weather-Health Alerting (WHA) system, which issues Heat-Health Alerts (HHA).

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)'s new combined AWHP as part of a commitment under the climate change National Adaption Programme (NAP) to bring together and improve existing guidance on weather and health.

The AWHP will build on existing measures taken by UKHSA, the wider government, its agencies, NHS England and local authorities to protect people from the health effects of adverse weather and build community resilience.

Bringing together the previous Heatwave Plan for England, and the Cold Weather Plan for England, this new annual document will be underpinned by:

  • a collection of supporting scientific evidence, published in parallel
  • updated Weather-Health alerts developed in partnership with the Met Office new and
  • updated guidance and supporting materials, providing advice on how to stay safe during severe weather events, such as periods of extreme heat and cold.

The AWHP was developed by scientists and public health experts in the UKHSA’s new Centre for Climate and Health Security, established to provide leadership to protect health in the context of a changing climate and provide a focus for partnerships and collaborations with academia, local authorities and other public sector organisations.

Severe weather case studies