BT has been ordered to visit the homes of elderly customers to check they have working emergency alarms due to security fears over the removal of landlines.

Under the new rules, companies including BT and other providers will be forced to send an engineer to elderly and disabled people who rely on personal alarms.

Some of these alarms, or panic buttons, may have used landlines to operate. It will therefore be necessary to check them now that landlines are replaced by a digital service.

Nearly two million people in the UK rely on panic buttons called ‘home care’ to raise the alarm if they are in difficulty, for example after a fall at home.

They are typically worn around the neck or wrist and are connected to a landline phone to automatically send an alert to loved ones or emergency services when triggered manually or automatically.

Chris Bryant, the telecoms minister, has been pushing major companies including BT, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Sky to extend battery backups beyond the existing one-hour minimum to help them in the event of a power outage.

The Telegraph reported that Mr Bryant said at the meeting: “Outdated copper wire technology is coming to an end. If we want to stay connected with the rest of the world, we need a complete overhaul of our digital infrastructure.

“While this migration is necessary, it is essential that the industry gets it right and ensures that the most vulnerable are protected.

“It’s kept me up at night and it’s a priority I’ve put at the forefront of my work since I took office. I am pleased that telecommunications companies, central government and local authorities are working together to ensure the safety of customers.

Scheduled to be rolled out by the end of January 2027, all British Telecom (BT) lines will be upgraded to digital, as the analogue system has become obsolete.

Vulnerable customers who use telecare alarm systems via BT will not have their systems swapped until at least spring 2025.

This will allow time to conclude data sharing agreements with local authorities and enable home support for telecare users.

BT will initially focus on switching customers who have not used their landline in the last 12 months, encouraging them to use a digital landline provided over fiber optic broadband, where available.

The company also announced its intention to offer a dedicated landline telephone service to customers who do not use broadband from the fall.

This will allow customers to use their landline in the same way they do today until a digital solution is available or until 2030, whichever comes sooner.