Strengthening England’s Heat Resilience: From Warnings to Long-Term Adaptation

Abstract

Extreme heat is becoming one of England’s most significant climate risks. Heatwaves accounted for roughly 95 percent of weather- and climate-related deaths in Europe between 1980 and 2023. The 2026 season showed how fast the threat is growing: Heat-Health Alerts were issued as early as May, only the second Red alert on record followed in June, and a provisional 37.7°C at Lingwood broke a June record that had stood since 1976. This policy brief draws on a survey of 1,097 adults and interviews with 29 heat risk communicators to assess how well England’s Heat-Health Alert System protects the public. It finds a persistent gap between warnings and behaviour. Seventy percent of respondents had seen alerts, yet 41 percent of them took no protective action. The main reasons were low perceived personal risk, failure to recognise the alert, and uncertainty about what to do. Only 18 percent perceived heat risk as high, and around 30 percent had limited or no knowledge of effective protective measures. Communication efforts have focused mainly on informing the public rather than motivating and enabling action. The brief argues that England’s resilience will depend on moving beyond reliance on alerts alone. It recommends reaching vulnerable groups through local authorities and trusted community intermediaries, and using accessible formats and behavioural insights so that messages prompt action. It also calls for evaluation frameworks that measure understanding, behaviour and health outcomes. Finally, it calls for making housing central to heat adaptation, by enforcing Part O of the Building Regulations, addressing overheating in retrofit programmes and targeting investment where poor housing and deprivation combine. Without addressing these structural drivers of vulnerability, England’s response to extreme heat will remain reactive.