UK lockdown: Government could consider allowing household groups to merge from 1 June

New rules to allow those who are isolated more social contact

The government has announced that it will consider allowing households to merge as soon as 1 June in England.

On Monday, a 60-page document titled Our Plan to Rebuild was released in a bid to expand on the steps being taken to ease lockdown restrictions, which were first announced by Boris Johnson on Sunday.

Since 23 March, people have been asked to only leave the house for very limited purposes.

The government acknowledges that these restrictions have affected the isolated and vulnerable, and those who live alone.

As lockdown continues, the government has now revealed it is considering a range of options to reduce the most harmful social effects to make the measures more sustainable, including allowing people to expand their household to include one other household.

The document states that the intention of this change would be to “allow those who are isolated some more social contact, and to reduce the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions, while continuing to limit the risk of chains of transmission”.

It adds that the move would also support some families to return to work by, for example, allowing two households to share childcare.

The government states that this system could be based on the New Zealand model of household “bubbles” where a single “bubble” is the people you live with. As in New Zealand, the rationale behind keeping household groups small is to limit the number of social contacts people have and, in particular, to limit the risk of inter-household transmissions.

Over the coming weeks, the government will engage on the nature and timing of the measures in this step, as it states the decision is subject to conditions being satisfied.

The document also states that as of Wednesday 13 May, people in England will be permitted to meet up with one person from outside their household, as long as they are outside and maintain social distancing.

Following advise from SAGE that the risk of infection outside is significantly lower than inside, the government is updating the rules so that, as well as exercise, "people can now also spend time outdoors subject to: not meeting up with any more than one person from outside your household; continued compliance with social distancing guidelines to remain two metres (6ft) away from people outside your household; good hand hygiene, particularly with respect to shared surfaces; and those responsible for public places being able to put appropriate measures in place to follow the new COVID-19 Secure guidance," the document reads.

However, the leaders of the four nations of the UK are choosing different ways to ease the coronavirus restrictions with first ministers Nicola Sturgeon, Mark Drakeford and Arlene Foster all rejecting Mr Johnson’s new “stay alert” slogan.

You can read more about how the lockdown rules now vary across the four nations here.