With all five of the Government’s tests being met and progress continuing to be made, the government has been proceeding with the incremental easing of further lockdown measures.
Single-adult households can now form a “support bubble” with one other household, enabling those to act as though they lived in the same household and can therefore enter each other’s homes and without following the two-metre rule. Please note, however, that due to the particular vulnerability of Shielded Patients to the virus, these measures unfortunately cannot apply to them.
Once you are in a support bubble, you can think of yourself as in a single household. Your support bubble should therefore be exclusive – you should not change who is in your bubble, or have close contact with anyone else you do not live with. You can read more about this here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/meeting-people-from-outside-your-household#making-a-support-bubble-with-another-household.
Places of worship can reopen for individual prayer from Monday 15th June, following consultation with faith leaders. This will be a great comfort to many people of all faiths but sadly group services are not yet possible for health reasons.
Zoos, safari parks, and other outdoor attractions can reopen providing they follow social distancing rules; and all shops can reopen from Monday 15th June and they too should adhere to Covid-secure guidelines for the protection of staff and customers.
Newly-released figures have shown that 11,400 employees who reside in Northampton North have benefitted from the Job Retention Scheme.
The scheme, launched by the UK Government, pays up to 80% of a worker’s wages, designed both to support businesses, and to protect workers’ income and job security. Across the UK at large, 1,067,700 businesses and 8,696,000 workers have benefitted from the furlough scheme.
The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is designed to support self-employed persons affected by the coronavirus, allowing them to claim up to 80% of their average monthly profits. In Northampton North, 4,400 self-employed people – out of a potentially eligible 6,400 people - have benefitted from the scheme, receiving financial support worth a total of £13.3 million so far.
The Government’s full 50-page recovery strategy can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/884760/Our_plan_to_rebuild_The_UK_Government_s_COVID-19_recovery_strategy.pdf and the accompanying Frequently Asked Questions page can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do.