England's Third Lockdown - Key Points For Employers

As of midnight on 5 January 2021, England has been placed under a national lockdown, its third in 10 months. This followed the COVID-19 alert level for the whole of the United Kingdom being elevated to 5, the highest level, which indicates that without further action there would be "a material risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed" within 21 days, in the face of the new and more contagious strain of COVID-19 recently identified in the South of the UK.

These lockdown rules are set to be reviewed on 15 February, by which point the government is aiming to have had vaccinated all 13.9 million people in the top four priority groups in England. These groups are care home residents and carers, everyone aged 70 and over, all frontline health and social care workers, and the clinically extremely vulnerable. Any extension or loosening of the lockdown rules will be contingent on the success of the vaccination roll out.