26 March 2020: restrictions on leaving one’s home without a reasonable excuse, first
announced on 23 March, come into legal effect in England. Very limited exceptions
permit travel to work where it is not reasonably possible to work from home.
Participating in a gathering of more than two persons is prohibited except where the
gathering “is essential for work purposes”.
13 May 2020: leaving or being outside one’s home without a reasonable excuse
continues to be prohibited Some restrictions are relaxed to allow meetings outdoors
for exercise or recreation with one person from another household. Guidance
encourages those who cannot work from home to go back to work. At work, social
distancing advice applies with workplaces required “to avoid crowding and minimise
opportunities for the virus to spread by maintaining a distance of at least 2 metres (3
steps) between individuals wherever possible”
1 June 2020: England moves to “step 2” of the government’s roadmap in which
restrictions on leaving one’s home are removed. Gatherings of two or more persons
indoors and more than six outdoors are prohibited. An exception permits gatherings
that are “reasonably necessary …. for work purposes”
15 June 2020: Non-essential retail businesses are permitted to reopen and individual
prayer in places of worship is allowed again
4 July 2020: most remaining national restrictions are removed as pubs and restaurants
reopen. Gatherings of more than 30 persons are prohibited
5 July 2020: despite the removal of most national restrictions, local restrictions are
retained and reintroduced during July and August in certain areas, including Leicester,
Bolton, Greater Manchester and the North East
14 September 2020: a restriction on gatherings of more than six persons indoors and
outdoors (the “rule of six”) is introduced, subject to exceptions which include where
“the gathering is reasonably necessary…. for work purposes”
14 October 2020: a tiered system of progressive restrictions is introduced. London is
moved to Tier 2 (“High”), from 17 October, in which two or more persons are prohibited
from meeting indoors
5 November 2020: a second national lockdown is introduced which requires people to
stay at home and which prohibits gatherings with people from other households except
for permitted exceptions, including where the “gathering is reasonably necessary ….
for work purposes”
2 December 2020: England is divided again into three tiers, with London in Tier 2 in
which gatherings of two or more persons continue to be prohibited unless an
exception, such as where the gathering is reasonably necessary for work purposes,
applies. Government guidance for the Christmas period on visiting pubs and
restaurants advises: “although there are exemptions for work purposes you must not have a work Christmas lunch or party, where that is a primarily social activity and is not otherwise permitted by the rules in your tier.”
16 December 2020: London is moved to Tier 3. Indoor gatherings of two or more
persons from different households continue to be prohibited. Social distancing remains
the rule at work, with offices advised “to maintain social distancing guidelines (2m, or
1m with risk mitigation where 2m is not viable), wherever possible, including while
arriving at and departing from work, while in work and when travelling between sites”.
20 December 2020: London is moved to a newly-created Tier 4 with much of South
East England, to help control the Alpha variant. The “stay at home restrictions” prohibit
leaving one’s home except for permitted purposes
6 January 2021: All areas of England are moved into Tier 4’s stay at home restrictions.
This is the third national lockdown. The stay at home restrictions prohibit leaving one’s
home except for permitted exceptions which include where it is “reasonably necessary
…. for the purposes of work” and where it is not reasonably possible to work from
home
29 March 2021: All areas of England move to Step 1 and the “stay at home restrictions”
are lifted. Gatherings of two or more persons indoors or more than six persons
outdoors are prohibited, subject to exceptions which include where a gathering is
“reasonably necessary… for work purposes”
12 April 2021: All of England moves to Step 2. Non essential retail businesses and
many outdoor venues reopen but the restrictions on social mixing indoors and
outdoors do not change
17 May 2021: All of England moves to Step 3, permitting six persons or two
households to mix indoors and up to 30 people to mix outdoors