PM confirms return to tiered local restrictions on 2 Dec
By Rachel Lawler
The government has confirmed that England will return to a system of regional tiered restrictions when national lockdown ends on Wednesday 2 December.
Speaking in Parliament on 23 Nov, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that the country will return to a tiered system of restrictions after the lockdown, adding that there will now be a uniform set of rules across each tier (i.e. no individual additional measures will be added for specific regions).
The tiered system will be made tougher than before national lockdown, with stricter measures on the hospitality sector in particular.
However, the government has confirmed that registered early years providers, registered childcare (including wraparound providers) and supervised activities for children (which the Department for Education has previously confirmed includes baby and toddler groups) will be able to operate across all tiers.
​The government will confirm which tier each region in England will be placed into later this week, with the update provisionally scheduled for Thursday.
The Prime Minister confirmed that more regions are likely to be placed into higher tiers.
Return of the 'Rule of 6'
The government has also confirmed that the current requirement to limit outdoor meetings to one other person only will be replaced with the 'Rule of 6'. It has not, however, confirmed whether or not under-fives will be included in this rule when it comes back into force - we will seek confirmation on this from the Department for Education.
Expansion of support bubbles
The government has confirmed that from 2 December, people can form a support bubble with another household, if at least one has:
a child under 1 (regardless of how many other adults are in the household); or
a child under 5 with a disability that requires continuous care (regardless of how many other adults are in the household)
This is in addition to the previous support bubble criteria.
Further details are available in the government's .
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