WaterSafe, the register for approved plumbing businesses, is supporting the government’s Get Ready for Winter campaign, hosted by the Met Office.

Rosalie Fairbairn, from the Met Office, said: “People come to the Met Office website for weather so we want to provide more information about how to prepare for and react to it. The Get Ready for Winter campaign is about getting people to consider the winter preparations they can make now to help them stay warm, healthy and safe when winter weather arrives.

“It’s great to have WaterSafe and the UK’s water companies on board with this campaign and its important messages, not least around what everyone can do to keep their pipes from freezing and bursting and to prevent flooding.”

The campaign laid out simple steps that installers can pass on to homeowners to prepare for a cold winter:

• Wrap up pipes and water tanks with lagging
• Fix dripping taps – even a small trickle can result in a frozen pipe
• Find your home’s stop tap and make sure you can turn it off – most are under the kitchen sink
• Leave the heating on low if you go away
• Check your central heating boiler has been serviced
• Keep the name of a plumber handy – type in your postcode at watersafe.org.uk to find the nearest accredited plumbing business.