Tougher restrictions for 6 million in England and Wales begin

Tougher restrictions for preventing the spread of Covid infection are coming into force in various parts of the UK within the next 24 hours.

Tougher restrictions for preventing the spread of Covid infection are coming into force in various parts of the UK within the next 24 hours.

Tougher restrictions to be enforced in England and Wales

Greater Manchester moved into the highest alert level, Tier 3, on Friday morning Coventry, Stoke and Slough will into Tier 2 on Saturday, while Nottingham is likely to move into Tier 3 restrictions soon as well.

Wales’ two-week “firebreak” lockdown comes into effect from 6 pm tonight.

Under Tier 3 measures, pubs and bars forced to shut, unless they are can serve “substantial meals”. Casinos, bingo halls and betting shops will also have to close for at least 28 days.

On Thursday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced an emergency multi-billion pound bailout to help companies and their employees through the second Covid wave. The Job Support Scheme will be more generous than initially stated so that companies can keep staff in work. There will also be grants of up to £2,100 a month available for firms in Tier 2 areas of England. This is principally for hospitality and leisure venues which have lost masses of business due to restrictions. The package could cost around £13 billion over six months.

The Chancellor also said the business grants will be available retrospectively for areas which have already been subject to restrictions since August, and come on top of higher levels of additional business support for areas moving into Tier 3. 150,000 businesses in England qualify meaning another £1 billion from the coffers. The Job Support Scheme could cost £6 billion if the two million people who are eligible take up the offer. Workers doing only 20 per cent of their regular work will receive at least 73 per cent of their regular pay. The amount that employers are required to pay has also been cut to 5 per cent of hours when the employee is not working, the initial figure was 33 per cent.

Self employed grants have also increased from 20 per cent of profits to 40 per cent, meaning the maximum pay-out will increase from £1,875 to £3,750. This adds up to £3.1 billion of extra support to the self-employed from now until January.