Elderly Home Security: Locks, Alarms and Scam Safety

The short answer

Locks matter more than any gadgetA five-lever mortice deadlock to British Standard BS 3621, a door chain and a peephole stop more trouble than any alarm or camera bought afterwards.
Doorstep callers need a routine, not suspicionStop, lock the other doors, put the chain on and check identification properly before opening. A password agreed with the gas, electricity or water company covers the callers who are supposed to be there.
Technology helps once the basics are rightA doorbell camera, an alarm and timed lights are worth having alongside good locks and habits, not instead of them.
Plan for the moment help is neededA key safe, a personal alarm and a phone within reach matter as much as anything else here. If the alarm runs over the phone line, check it now against the landline switch-off due by January 2027.

None of this replaces someone visiting regularly, who would notice straight away if something was wrong. Where that is not possible yet, the steps below are what the home needs instead.

Where to start

Five layers of security, and where to start

Fourteen separate tips are hard to act on all at once. Grouped like this, they are five decisions, and the first is worth doing before any of the others: get the locks right.

1Doors, windows and locksThe physical barrier a burglar has to get through, and the one thing insurers check most closely.BS 3621 deadlockDoor chainLetterbox cage
2Habits at the doorWhat stops a caller getting further than the doorstep, whether they mean harm or just mean a sale.Stop, lock, chain, checkA password for tradespeopleNo buying on the spot
3Technology that watches when nobody else canWorth having once the locks and habits are right, not instead of them.Doorbell cameraAlarm systemTimer and sensor lights
4People who would noticeThe cheapest layer, and often the most effective: a house that looks watched.A neighbour with your numberA used driveway, a tidy gardenRegular visits or company
5Getting help fast when something goes wrongFor the moment after a fall, a scare at the door, or letting a carer in without getting up.Police-approved key safeA personal alarmA phone within reach

Some Age UK branches and local councils also offer a free home safety check, a room-by-room look at the whole house rather than security on its own, on top of the crime prevention advice below. It is separate from the needs assessment for a personal alarm or equipment covered under getting help fast, and worth asking for alongside it.

This guide sits inside PrimeCarers' mobility and falls care pages. If the wider worry is trip hazards, poor lighting on the stairs or clutter rather than break-ins and scams, the downloadable home risk guide covers that separately.

Doors, windows and locks

Get the locks right before anything else

A locksmith and an hour do more for security than any camera or alarm bought afterwards, and this is the one part of the advice that has not changed: look for the standard on the lock, not the price on the box.

Check these before you buy anything else

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The front and back doors

A five-lever mortice deadlock carrying the BSI Kitemark to BS 3621This is what most home insurance policies require, and what a locksmith should quote for by name. A new composite or uPVC door instead needs the whole door set tested to PAS 24.
A door chain or door bar, used every timeFit one and get into the habit of using it. Do not leave it permanently on, though: it also stops a carer, a paramedic or a family member with a key getting straight in during an emergency.
A peephole or spyhole at a height that is easy to useCheap, and it means nobody has to open the door at all to see who is there.
A letterbox cage or restrictorStops somebody reaching through the letterbox to a lock or keys left nearby.

Windows and outbuildings

Keyed locks on ground-floor windows and any upper window near a flat roof or drainpipeThese are the windows within a burglar’s reach.
An up-to-date lock on any sliding patio or balcony doorOlder sliding doors often rely on a catch rather than a proper lock, and are a common point of entry. A locksmith can fit a hook-bolt or key-operated lock to an existing sliding door without replacing it.
A strong door and a good lock on the shed or garageTools left in an unlocked shed are often what gets used to get into the house itself.

Before buying an alarm, Age UK's advice is to check with a local police Crime Prevention Officer first, since some insurers discount premiums for an approved system and will not recognise one that is not. Search your force's website for crime prevention advice, or call 101.

Doorstep callers

Answering the door safely

Most doorstep crime is not a break-in. It is a caller let in willingly, because they seemed reasonable, urgent or official. Age UK's advice for this fits on a small card by the door: Stop, Lock, Chain, Check.

1
Stop
Before touching the door
Ask through the door who it is and whether they were expected. Nobody genuine minds being asked to wait a moment.
2
Lock
The other doors first
Lock the back door before answering the front, in case the call is a distraction for somebody at the back of the house.
3
Chain
On, every time
Put the door chain or bar on before opening, and open the door only as far as it allows.
4
Check
Identification, properly
Ask for identification and look at it closely rather than glancing. A genuine caller from a utility company, the council or the NHS will not mind you ringing the company back on a number you look up yourself, not one they hand you.

Agree a password with the gas, electricity, water or telecare company in advance, so anyone they send to the door can prove who they are by saying it. Many councils also run "No Cold Calling Zones", marked with a street sign, which residents ask their local trading standards team to set up. Never buy from someone who calls unannounced, whatever the offer, and never sign anything or hand over money on the spot. For building or garden work, look for a tradesperson through TrustMark, the only government-endorsed scheme for vetting who works in someone's home, rather than whoever knocks.

If your relative lives in a flat or sheltered housing with an intercom, agree a spoken password with family and regular visitors too, so a voice on the intercom is not enough on its own to be let in.

The same caution is worth applying to anyone hired to work in the house, including a carer. Every carer on PrimeCarers has had their identity and right to work checked, an enhanced DBS check on the Update Service, and an online interview before they appear in search results, and how to check a carer yourself covers what else is worth asking for on top of that.

Alarms, cameras and lights

Technology that helps from a distance

None of this replaces the locks and habits above. It adds a way to notice trouble, or make the house look occupied, when nobody is there to see it happen.

A doorbell camera

Lets your relative, and you, see and speak to whoever is at the door before it is opened, from a phone anywhere. Choose one with a simple, single-button answer; a complicated app puts people off using it.

See who is there first

A burglar alarm

Worth having once it has been checked with a police Crime Prevention Officer or your insurer, since an unapproved system may not qualify for any discount and can even be excluded from a policy.

Checked against advice, not just bought

Timer switches and light sensors

Different lamps coming on at different times through the evening make an empty house look lived in. Sensor lights by the front and back doors light the path at night as well as catching visitors on camera, though a cat or a fox crossing the garden will set them off just as often as a person.

A few pounds each

If a carer or family member visits, it is worth asking them to open the curtains in the morning and draw them at dusk, and to leave a light on if they are last to leave. It is a small habit that keeps a house looking occupied even when nobody sees it happen, and it matters most in winter, when surviving winter covers the season's other risks, from cold rooms to icy paths. For the wider range of devices that help somebody live alone, from voice assistants to fall-detecting wearables, see home technology for the elderly.

Neighbours and habits

The simplest security is somebody noticing

A burglar looks for a house that seems unwatched. Most of what makes a house look watched costs nothing and depends on people rather than equipment.

What helps

A neighbour who has your phone number and knows to call you rather than guess
A tidy garden and hedges low enough to see the front door from the street
A neighbour using the driveway if your relative no longer drives, so a car comes and goes
Checking for a local Neighbourhood Watch scheme, which shares crime prevention advice for the area
A relative, neighbour or carer visiting or staying over from time to time, especially after a spell in hospital

What works against you

An old, unused car left sitting on the drive
An overgrown garden or a hedge tall enough to hide the front door
Post and parcels piling up at the door while your relative is away
Curtains that never move and lights that are never on, day or night
A spare key left under a mat, in a plant pot or on a string through the letterbox

A Neighbourhood Watch scheme is free to join and exists in most areas, and the network's website has a search for the nearest one. If company as well as an extra pair of eyes on the house would help, a companionship visit a few times a week costs around £15 to £20 an hour on PrimeCarers, with our fee included. Where your relative would feel safer with somebody in the house overnight, overnight care starts at around £130 a night, fee included.

Getting help fast

Key safes, personal alarms and the phone within reach

The last layer is what happens once something has already gone wrong: a fall, a scare at the door, or needing to let a carer in without getting up. Three simple things cover most of it.

The equipment worth having in place before it is needed

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A key safe

A police-approved model, fixed where it cannot be seen from the streetLook for a "Police Preferred" key safe certified by Secured by Design, the official police security initiative; these are tested against forced attack far harder than an ordinary front door lock. Screw it to a solid wall, not a fence panel.
A code nobody could guessAvoid a birth year, a house number or four repeated digits. Share it only with people who need it, and change it if a carer or cleaner stops coming.

A personal alarm

A pendant or wristband that calls for help at the press of a buttonAsk adult social services at the council for a needs assessment; some councils supply or subsidise a monitored alarm once they have assessed your relative, and several charities and private suppliers sell them directly otherwise.
Checked against the landline switch-offThe old analogue telephone network is due to close by the end of January 2027, and an alarm built for a landline may stop working over a digital line or broadband router without an upgrade. Ring the alarm supplier and the phone provider now and ask them to confirm it is compatible; providers have agreed not to move a telecare user onto a digital line until it is.

The telephone itself

Within reach of the chair and the bed, not across the roomSomebody who has fallen cannot cross a room to answer it. A second handset, or a phone with large buttons and a loud ringer, solves most of this cheaply.
Emergency numbers written down, not just saved in a phoneA large-print list by the phone: you, the GP, and 999, in case a mobile has run out of charge or a landline handset has lost its memory.

The right equipment to aid the elderly covers the wider range of aids an occupational therapist might recommend, most of which the council supplies free after an assessment.

Questions

Questions families ask about home security

Check the locks. A five-lever mortice deadlock to British Standard BS 3621, a door chain used every time and a peephole stop more trouble than any alarm or camera, and a locksmith can usually fit all three in an afternoon. Everything else in this guide builds on that.

Often, yes: meter readers, delivery drivers, council staff and tradespeople all call unannounced sometimes. The routine is the same either way: stop and ask who it is, lock the other doors, put the chain on, and check identification properly rather than glancing at it. A genuine caller will not mind being asked to wait, or being called back on a number you look up yourself.

Yes, provided it is a "Police Preferred" model certified by Secured by Design, fixed to a solid wall out of sight from the street, with a code that is not a birth year or a house number. Cheaper, uncertified boxes exist and are far easier to force open, so the certification is worth checking before buying.

Not necessarily, if it was built for an analogue phone line. The old network is due to close by the end of January 2027, and an alarm designed for it may not work properly over a digital line or broadband router without an upgrade. Ring the alarm supplier and the phone provider now, tell them a telecare device is in use, and ask them to confirm compatibility before any line is switched.

Sometimes. A needs assessment from adult social services looks at what would help your relative stay safely at home, and some councils supply or subsidise a monitored alarm as part of that. It is free to ask for an assessment, and it is worth doing regardless of the outcome, since it also opens the door to other equipment and funding. How to ask for local authority funding.

Call 999 if anyone is in danger now, or 101 for a non-emergency police report. For fraud or a scam, call Report Fraud on 0300 123 2040, the national service that replaced Action Fraud in December 2025. For an unfair doorstep sale that falls short of fraud, the Citizens Advice consumer service will report it to Trading Standards on your behalf.

They help, particularly alongside good locks and habits, but neither is a guarantee on its own. A visible camera and a marked alarm box make a house a less appealing target than one that has neither, which is also why insurers only discount premiums for systems that meet a recognised standard. They work best as one layer among several, not as a replacement for the others.

Keeping their home secure

Five layers of security, and where to start

Get the locks right before anything else

Answering the door safely

Stop

Lock

Chain

Check