Alcohol advice
Local alcohol support services
The Chief Medical Officers for the UK recommends that there are no safe levels of alcohol consumption and if you're pregnant, or planning to become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all.
Men and women are advised not to regularly drink more than 14 units a week and also to spread drinking over three days or more if you do drink as much as 14 units a week.
14 units is equivalent to six pints of average strength beer or 10 small glasses of low strength wine.
Knowing how many units of alcohol you are consuming can help you to keep control of how much alcohol you drink. More information about how to calculate units is available via:
Short and long term impact
Drinking alcohol can have short and long terms impact you your health, wellbeing, relationships, education, employment, housing, finances and safety. Long term health impacts can include:
Sexually transmitted diseases, head injuries, liver disease, liver cancer, heart disease, strokes, bowel cancer, depression and dementia etc.
Take control of your drinking
If you are concerned about your drinking and you want to make a change you can visit the Lower My Drinking website or download the app.
It provides you with advice and tools to reduce your drinking to the recommended 14 units a week or less allowing you to:
- Track your progress
- Recognise the gains that come alongside cutting down
- Focusing on what is motivating you to reduce drinking
- Sees how your drinking compares to the rest of the population
Parental drinking
Parental drinking behaviour and alcohol consumption can have an impact on the behaviours of children and young people. The Drinkaware website provides advice and information for parents including: The risks of underage drinking, how to talk to your child, why talking to your child is good and how to prevent your child from drinking.
National helplines
Page last reviewed: 08 July 2022