Tier 4: Stay at Home: what you can and can't do

So, what exactly is the difference between the current Tier 3 restrictions in Oldham, compared to the Tier 4 rules which will now come into force from midnight tonight?

Here is more on what you can and cannot do in areas, such as Oldham, where tighter restrictions are in place.

Anyone who lives in a Tier 4 area must follow the rules.

You cannot leave or be outside of the place you are living unless you have a reasonable excuse.

You cannot meet other people indoors, including over the New Year period, unless you live with them, or they are part of your support bubble.

Outdoors, you can only meet one person from another household.

From midnight tonight, you can only leave home with a reasonable excuse - they include:

Work and volunteering

Essential activities (you can leave home to buy things at shops or obtain services from a business which is permitted to open in your Tier 4 area, but you should stay local)

Fulfilling legal obligations

Education and childcare

Meeting others and care (you can leave home to visit people in your support bubble, or to provide informal childcare for children aged 13 and under as part of a childcare bubble, to provide care for vulnerable people, to provide emergency assistance)

Exercise and recreation (such as parks and accessible countryside)

Medical reasons, harm and compassionate visits

Communal worship and life events (a place of worship for communal worship, a funeral, a burial ground or a remembrance garden, wedding ceremonies)

In general, you must not meet socially or carry out any activities with another person.

If you break the rules

The police can take action against you if you meet in larger groups.

This includes breaking up illegal gatherings and issuing fines (fixed penalty notices).

You can be given a Fixed Penalty Notice of £200 for the first offence, doubling for further offences up to a maximum of £6,400.

If you hold, or are involved in holding, an illegal gathering of over 30 people, the police can issue fines of £10,000.

For much more in-depth information on restrictions, including rules regarding travel in and out of a Tier 4 area, staying out overnight, businesses and venues, public services, schools, colleges and universities, childcare and visiting relatives in care homes, please click here

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