Local Authority Risk and Adaptation Toolkit: Heat Edition
The Local Authority Risk and Adaptation (LARA) Toolkit: Heat Edition is designed to help assess heat-related health risks and plan actions to protect health.
Key resources for LARA:
- Local Authority Risk and Adaptation (LARA) Toolkit: Heat Edition
The full toolkit will be published soon. For more information around heat-health, explore our heat collection.
Why preparing for heat matters
High temperatures, hot weather and heatwaves can increase risks of illness and death, especially for vulnerable populations. With climate change driving more frequent and intense heatwaves, proactive planning is essential.
A toolkit to help local authorities prepare for heat risks
The Local Authority Risk and Adaptation (LARA) Toolkit: Heat Edition is designed to help councils understand and respond to the health risks posed by hot temperatures. It provides a simple, structured way to:
- assess preparedness for heat-related health risks, including current areas of strength
- identify gaps and areas for improvement in local plans and services
- assess approaches to protect at risk groups such as older people, children, and those with health conditions
- plan practical actions guided by national guidance and good practice
- monitor your progress using our dashboard of visualisations
The LARA Toolkit supports collaboration across local authority departments and partners, helping to build resilience and reduce preventable harm from high temperatures, hot weather and heatwaves.
Example visualisations from the LARA pilot dashboard
Figure 1. LARA pilot dashboard
Figure 1 shows how on completion of the LARA Toolkit, the user will be provided with a number of data visualisations that demonstrate how their local authority is addressing heat risk. This includes a spider diagram covering all action areas and relative strengths, a table using colour coding to illustrate relative strengths and clearly identified strongest category as well as category for further improvement.
What the LARA Toolkit includes
The LARA Heat Edition helps local authorities review and improve their preparedness for heat-related health risks across 12 key areas:
- Leadership – briefing and engagement of senior leaders and elected members.
- Local authority-Wide Action and Communications – emergency planning, public messaging, and staff training.
- Care Settings – protecting and support older adults and disabled people in care and nursing homes.
- Home and Domiciliary Care – protecting and support older adults and disabled people living in their own homes.
- Children and Young People – safeguarding health in schools, early years, and social care settings.
- People Experiencing Homelessness – actions for rough sleepers and those in insecure housing.
- Homes – assessing and adapting housing stock to reduce overheating risks.
- Planning – embedding heat resilience in planning policies and new developments.
- Occupation – protecting outdoor and indoor workers from heat stress.
- Infrastructure – preparing transport, energy, and water systems for heat impacts.
- Adverse Weather and Health Plan (AWHP) - implementation of this national plan and associated resources.
The full toolkit will be published soon. For more information around heat-health, explore our heat collection.