National lockdown - 4 January

At 8pm on 4 January, the Prime Minister announced that England is being put into National lockdown with immediate effect. You must stay at home. 

Read the Government Guidance for the National lockdown.

The Government's Tier System

The Government has written detailed guidance for what you can and cannot do in each of the four Tiers.

This page provides links to the Government guidance for each tier. 

Tier 1 - Medium Alert

Find out what you can and cannot do in Tier 1

Tier 2 - High Alert

Find out what you can and cannot do in Tier 2

Tier 3 - Very High Alert

Find out what you can and cannot do in Tier 3

Tier 4 - Stay At Home

Find out what you can and cannot do in Tier 4

Across all tiers

Across all tiers, everyone:

• must wear a face covering in most indoor public settings, unless they have an exemption
• should follow the rules on meeting others safely
• should attend school or college as normal, unless they are self-isolating. Schools, universities, colleges and early years settings remain open in all tiers
• should walk or cycle where possible, plan ahead and avoid busy times and routes when travelling
• must follow the gathering limits at their tier except for in specific settings and circumstances - see the bottom of this page

Visits to care homes can take place with arrangements such as substantial screens, visiting pods, and window visits. Regular testing will be offered to up to 2 family members or friends per resident by Christmas, which – when combined with other infection-control measures such as PPE – will support indoor visits with physical contact. Detailed guidance will be published shortly.

All businesses and venues that are open are expected to follow COVID-19 secure guidelines to protect customers, visitors and workers. In all tiers, the following businesses and venues can remain open:

• essential and non-essential retail, including indoor and outdoor markets and car boot sales
• certain leisure and sporting facilities such as gyms, sports courts and facilities, leisure centres, fitness and dance studios, golf courses, swimming pools, riding centres, outdoor playgrounds – subject to relevant social contact rules in each tier. Indoor group activities and classes should not take place at tier 3
• personal care and close contact services such as hairdressers and barbers, beauty salons, tattoo parlours, nail salons, spas and beauty services, massage parlours and tanning salons
• public buildings, such as libraries, community centres and halls. They should not host events for private hire, such as birthday parties or most other social activities in tier 3
• allotments, recycling and waste centres, public toilets, car parks
• essential public services such as the NHS and medical services, courts, and jobcentre plus sites
• places of worship – communal worship can now resume, subject to relevant social contact rules in each tier

Everyone who can work from home should do so. Where people cannot do so – including, but not limited to, people who work in critical national infrastructure, construction, or manufacturing – they should continue to travel to their workplace. Public-sector employees working in essential services, including education settings, should continue to go into work where necessary.

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