National lockdown in England from 5 November

The country will be placed into a national lockdown from Thursday 5 November, the Prime Minister confirmed in a press conference on Saturday (31 October).

The new restrictions come into force on Thursday 5 November and from then until Wednesday 2 December, the restrictions mean you may only leave home for specific reasons, including:

• For education
• For work, say if you cannot work from home
• For exercise and recreation outdoors, with your household or on your own with one person from another household
• For medical reasons, appointments and to escape injury or harm
• To shop for food and essentials; And to provide care for vulnerable people, or as a volunteer.

Non-essential shops, leisure and entertainment venues will all be closed – though click and collect services can continue and essential shops will remain open.

Pubs, bars, restaurants must close except for takeaway and delivery services.

Workplaces should stay open where people can’t work from home – for example in the construction or manufacturing sectors.

Single adult households can still form exclusive support bubbles with one other household, and children will still be able to move between homes if their parents are separated.

The guidance from government is that if you are clinically vulnerable, or over the age of 60, you should be especially careful to follow the rules and minimise your contacts with others.

Mr Johnson said: "Our hope was that by strong local action, strong local leadership, we could get the rates of infection down where the disease was surging, and address the problem thereby across the whole country.

"And I want to thank the millions of people who have been putting up with these restrictions in their areas for so long. I want to thank local leaders who have stepped up and local communities.

"I know how tough shielding was, and we will not ask people to shield again in the same way again. However we are asking those who are clinically extremely vulnerable to minimise their contact with others, and not to go to work if they are unable to work from home.

"Overrunning of the NHS would be a medical and moral disaster beyond the raw loss of life. Doctors and nurses would be forced to choose which patients to treat; who would get oxygen and who wouldn’t; who would live and who would die.

"Doctors and nurses would be forced to choose between saving covid patients and non-covid patients. And the sheer weight of covid demand would mean depriving tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of non-covid patients of the care they need."

The furlough scheme will be extended for one month through November until December. 

No information has been provided yet as to whether there will be any change to the Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) which is still running but will only pay 40% of profits up to a maximum grant of £3,750.

Mr Johnson said: "Christmas is going to be different this year, very different, but it is my sincere hope and belief that by taking tough action now, we can allow families across the country to be together."

On Monday Mr Johnson will set out plans to parliament. On Wednesday, parliament will debate and vote on these measures which, if passed, will come into force on Thursday.

The government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) - also known as the furlough scheme - will remain open until December, with employees receiving 80% of their current salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500. 

Under the extended scheme, the extended furlough scheme is more generous for employers than it was in October.

In addition, business premises forced to close in England are to receive grants worth up to £3,000 per month under the Local Restrictions Support Grant. Also, £1.1bn is being given to local authorities, distributed on the basis of £20 per head, for one-off payments to enable them to support businesses more broadly.

Job Retention Scheme

Employers small or large, charitable or non-profit, are eligible for the extended Job Retention Scheme, which will continue for a further month.

Businesses will have flexibility to bring furloughed employees back to work on a part time basis or furlough them full-time, and will only be asked to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions which, for the average claim, accounts for just 5% of total employment costs.

The Job Support Scheme, which was scheduled to come in on Sunday 1 November, has been postponed until the furlough scheme ends.

Additional guidance is expected to be released on Monday (2 November).

Mortgage holidays

Mortgage payment holidays will no longer end today. Borrowers who have been impacted by coronavirus and have not yet had a mortgage payment holiday will be entitled to a six month holiday, and those that have already started a mortgage payment holiday will be able to top up to six months without this being recorded on their credit file.

The FCA will announce further information on Monday.

Business grants

Businesses required to close in England due to local or national restrictions will be eligible for the following:

For properties with a rateable value of £15k or under, grants to be £1,334 per month, or £667 per two weeks;

For properties with a rateable value of between £15k-£51k grants to be £2,000 per month, or £1,000 per two weeks;

For properties with a rateable value of £51k or over grants to be £3,000 per month, or £1,500 per two weeks.