Business and venue closures 

Businesses to remain closed: 

• Nightclubs, dance halls, and discotheques

• Adult entertainment venues

Open businesses, services and venues 

• Essential and non-essential retail 

• Hospitality venues
(service allowed both indoors and outdoors)

• Hotels and other accommodation providers 

• Indoor entertainment and visitor attractions (e.g. theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums and galleries, casinos, amusement arcades, bingo halls, bowling alleys).

• Personal care (Steam rooms and saunas are now allowed to reopen).

• Indoor leisure and sports facilities (e.g. indoor leisure centres and gyms, indoor swimming pools, indoor sports courts, indoor fitness and dance studios, indoor riding arenas, and indoor climbing walls). 

• Conference centres and exhibition halls 

• Services provided by cleaners, nannies and tradespeople who are required to work in other people's homes.

• Places of worship (following the gathering limits)

The full list of businesses allowed to reopen in Step 3 of the Roadmap out of lockdown is available on the government website.

Weddings, civil partnerships, and
funerals

• Weddings, civil partnership ceremonies, wedding receptions
or civil partnership celebrations can take place with as many
people as a venue can safely accommodate with social distancing measures in place.

• Funerals and linked commemorative events may also take place with as many people as the venue
can safely accommodate with social distancing measures in place.

Social contact restrictions

• You can make a personal choice on whether to socially
distance when meeting friends and family.

• You can meet outdoors with people you do not live with, in groups of up to 30 people.

• You can meet indoors with people you do not live with, either: 

• in a group of up to 6 from any number of households (children of all ages count towards the limit of 6) 
• in a group of any size from up to two households (each household can include an existing support bubble, if eligible) 

• Parent and child groups can take place both indoors and outdoors if they are for the benefit of children aged under 5 (Children under 5 and anyone working as part of the group is not counted in this number. These are limited to no more than 30 attendees).

Visiting relatives/friends in care homes

From 21 June:

• All care home residents are able to nominate an essential caregiver. 
• Care home residents are now able to leave the home for more social reasons including overnight stays without being required to isolate.
• Individuals admitted to a care home from the community will no longer have to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival.

Visit the government's guidance on visiting care homes during COVID-19 for more information.

Guidance for clinically 
extremely vulnerable 
individuals

• If you are clinically extremely vulnerable you are no longer advised to shield, but you should continue to follow the guidance for people who are clinically extremely vulnerable.  

Attending work/education and travel  

Going to work

• You should continue to work from home unless you cannot reasonably do so. 

Education

• Early Years settings are open.

• Colleges, primary and secondary schools are open from 8 March 2021

• From 8 March, students in university and other higher education settings undertaking practical and practice-based courses who require specialist equipment and facilities can attend face-to-face teaching and learning.  

•  From 12 April, out-of-school settings and wraparound childcare providers can offer indoor and outdoor provision to all children, without restrictions on the purpose for which they may attend.

• From 17 May, all remaining University students can return to in-person teaching. 

• From 21 June, out-of-school settings and wraparound childcare providers can organise residential visits in bubbles of up to 30 children. 

Travel

• You should continue to plan ahead and avoid busy times and routes on public transport.  

Note: In Greater Manchester, where the Delta variant is prevalent, people should try to minimise travel in and out of the area.

 • You should walk or cycle where possible 

• From 17 May, travelling abroad for leisure purposes is no longer prohibited. Visit our Travel page, for more information on how international travel is expected to resume. 

View the government’s full guidance on travel 

Face coverings

• You must wear face coverings in all mandated settings.