England is now almost entirely in Covid tiers 3 and 4, with more areas joining the south-east and east in the harshest level of social restrictions from New Year’s Eve.
The government will review measures for all areas every two weeks.
Here is everything you need to know about what tier your area is in from New Year’s Eve and what the rules are.
What tier is my area in?
Tier 1: Medium alert
South-west
- Isles of Scilly
Tier 2: High alert
- Nowhere in England remains in this category.
Tier 3: Very high alert
East Midlands
- Rutland
North-west
- Liverpool City Region
South-east
- New Forest
South-west
- Bristol
- North Somerset
- South Gloucestershire
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Cornwall
- Devon, Plymouth and Torbay
- Areas covered by Dorset Council
- Wiltshire
West Midlands
- Herefordshire
- Shropshire, and Telford and Wrekin
- Worcestershire
Yorkshire and The Humber
- The Humber: East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston upon Hull/Hull, North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire
- South Yorkshire (Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotheram, Sheffield)
- West Yorkshire (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield)
- City of York and North Yorkshire
Tier 4: Stay at home
East Midlands
- Derby and Derbyshire
- Leicester City and Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Northamptonshire
- Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
East of England
- Bedford, Central Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes
- Cambridgeshire
- Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock
- Hertfordshire
- Norfolk
- Peterborough
- Suffolk
London
- All 32 London boroughs plus City of London
North-east
- North East Combined Authority (this area includes the local authorities of County Durham, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland)
- North of Tyne Combined Authority (this area includes the local authorities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland)
- Tees Valley Combined Authority (this area includes the local authorities of Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees)
North-west
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire, Blackburn with Darwen, and Blackpool
- Warrington and Cheshire
South-east
- Berkshire (Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead, West Berkshire and Wokingham)
- Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and West Sussex
- Buckinghamshire
- Hampshire (all local authorities except New Forest, which is in tier 3), Southampton and Portsmouth
- Kent and Medway
- Oxfordshire
- Surrey
- Isle of Wight
- New Forest
South-west
- Gloucestershire (Cheltenham, Cotswold, Forest of Dean, Gloucester City, Stroud and Tewkesbury)
- Somerset (Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, and South Somerset)
- Swindon
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
West Midlands
- Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton
- Coventry
- Solihull
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
- Warwickshire
What are the different rules in different tiers?
Tier 4
All non-essential shops, gyms and leisure facilities, hairdressers and salons, and hospitality venues are closed.
People are ordered to stay at home unless they have a “reasonable excuse”. The list of reasonable excuses is vast and detailed in full on the government website, but mostly boils down to work, shopping, exercise, education, childcare and healthcare.
You can go shopping for food or collect items ordered through click and collect; other reasonable excuses include depositing or obtaining cash; fulfilling a legal obligation; attending education or childcare settings; caring for the vulnerable or seeing someone in a support bubble; for respite care; for medical reasons; or for worship and “life events” (like weddings and funerals).
Household mixing indoors is strictly prohibited and only one person can meet up with one other outdoors.
Nobody can travel in or outside of tier 4 unless essential. No tier 4 resident can stay overnight away from their own home.
Nurseries and places of worship will remain open.
The support bubble policy for single person households still applies.
Tier 3
Household mixing both indoors and outdoors is banned. The rule-of-six for gatherings in public gardens or parks applies.
Shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and leisure centres will be open.
Hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants, hotels and indoor entertainment venues will be forced to close. Delivery and takeaway services will be permitted, however.
Attending indoor and outdoor sport events is banned.
People should avoid travelling outside their area except for work, education or health reasons.
People should work from home where possible.
Tier 2
Mixing of households indoors will be banned and the rule-of-six for social gatherings applies for outdoors.
Shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and leisure centres will be open.
Pubs and restaurants can open but alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal, with the same opening times restriction as in tier 1.
Collective worship and weddings can take place, with a maximum of 15 guests.
Outdoor sports can take place but there is a maximum crowd of 50% of overall capacity or 2,000, whichever is smaller.
Indoor sport can take place with a maximum of 1,000 spectators.
People should work from home where possible.
Tier 1
The rule-of-six for social gatherings, both indoor and outdoor, will be enforced, unless for work and education purposes.
Shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and leisure centres will be open.
Pubs and restaurants can open, but there is table service only and venues must take last orders at 10pm and close their doors at 11pm.
Collective worship and weddings can take place, with a maximum of 15 guests.
Outdoor sports can take place but there is a maximum crowd size of either 50% occupancy of the stadium or 4,000 spectators, whichever number is smaller.
Indoor sport can take place with a maximum of 1,000 spectators.
People are encouraged to minimise travel and to work from home where possible.
How are tiers decided?
The government has said the tiers are non-negotiable but will be reviewed every 14 days.
What areas are in which tiers are decided using five criteria:
1. An analysis of cases among all age groups
2. An analysis of cases among the over-60s, who are more vulnerable to coronavirus
3. The R rate and how quickly cases are rising
4. How many cases per thousand of the local population
5. The projected pressure on local NHS services