COVID-19 Update 30th November 2020

Christmas Guidance

The Government has published the guidance to the rules and restrictions that will apply over the Christmas period. The Guidance covers issues such as:

- Visiting bars, pubs and restaurants
- Visiting churches and other places of worship
- Visiting shops and Christmas markets
- Attending events, including performances and Christmas lighting ceremonies
- Celebrating New Year’s Eve
- Carol singing
- Attending events organised by schools and other education settings, including nativity plays
- Visiting relatives in care homes
- Travel in the UK
- Travel Abroad

Some of the main points are:

- Santa’s grottos are able to open in all tiers where they are located in venues otherwise permitted to open.
- Rules for Christmas markets will depend on which Tier the market is in
- Rules on attending events, including performances and Christmas or other festive lighting ceremonies will also depend on the Tier.
- Carol singing or carol services can take place if all attendees follow advice in the suggested principles of safer singing and guidance for the Performing Arts developed by an expert group coordinated by Public Health England. This applies to both professional and amateur choirs.
- Professional and amateur choirs may perform outdoors in any venue permitted to open
- Door-to-door carol singing can take place in a group(s) of no more than six participants.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-for-the-christmas-period

Detailed Guidance for Different Tier Levels

The Government has just published more detailed guidance on the Rules and Restrictions that apply to the revised Tier levels that come into force tomorrow.

Tier 1

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-1-medium-alert

Tier 2

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-2-high-alert

Tier 3

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-3-very-high-alert

While most of the guidance is as expected, there are a couple of points to be aware of in Tier 2

- tour groups must operate in line with social contact rules. This means that larger tours where different households or support bubbles (or groups of more than 6 if outdoors) interact will not be feasible

This does not make sense – a tour group is. by definition, more than one household

- accommodation, such as hotels, holiday lets and guesthouses, may open but businesses must take reasonable steps to ensure that social contact rules are followed within their venues
- theatres, concert halls, music venues and sports stadia are open, but capacity will be restricted to whichever is lower: 50% capacity or 2,000 people outdoors or 1,000 people indoors
- conference centres and exhibition halls are open. Business events are permitted, but capacity should be restricted to whichever is lower: 50% capacity of 2,000 people outdoors or 1,000 people indoors

Christmas Shopping Hours Extended

The Government has announced that retailers will be able to extend their daily opening hours from Monday to Saturday in the run up to Christmas and through January,

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/boost-for-high-street-as-jenrick-extends-opening-hours-for-christmas-shopping

Changes in Wales

The Welsh Government has announced that from 6pm on Friday

- Pubs, bars and restaurants will be banned from selling alcohol and will have to close at 6pm,. They will, however, be able provide takeaways after 6pm.
- Indoor entertainment venues such as cinemas, bingo halls, soft play areas and casinos will also have to close
- Indoor visitor attractions such as museums, galleries, and heritage sites will also have to close but outdoor visitor attractions will be able to remain open

The Welsh Parliament will review these restrictions by December 17

To help support businesses, the Welsh Government is implementing a £180m support package specifically for the tourism, leisure and hospitality sector. In addition, there will also be a package element of £160m which will support up to 60,000 businesses on the non-domestic rating with businesses, including those in retail, tourism, leisure and hospitality, and their supply chains, which are materially affected by the restrictions will receive payments of between £3,000 and £5,000. Discretionary grants of up to £2,000 will continue to be available for those not on the non-domestic rating list.

https://gov.wales/340m-support-welsh-businesses-new-coronavirus-rules-announced

Discretionary Grants for Dissolved Businesses

As a result of increased business failures as a result of Coronavirus, the Government has updated the guidance on discretionary grants for dissolved businesses. Normally, when a business is dissolved, the cash and other assets of the business automatically pass to the Crown and can only be recovered if an application is made to restore the company. The Discretionary Grant application enables assets to be recovered from the business without going through this process. The that can be claimed for as a Discretionary Grant is £3000 can be recovered and only one grant payment will be made in respect of each dissolved company.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-discretionary-grant-where-the-dissolved-company-can-be-restored-cb2