Staged lifting of Lockdown (updated 23/3/21)
The Government announcement for the phased lifting of lockdown between the 29 March and 21 June is welcome, but hitting the dates for each stage is dependent on controlling the virus and the rate of immunisation.
A summary of the stages for the general public is set out below:
| Current | 1a | 1b | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Now | 8 March | 29 March or later | 12 April or later | 17 May or later | 21 June or later |
| Recreation or exercise with household or one other person. No household mixing indoors. Social distancing applies. | Rule of 6 or two households outdoors. No household mixing indoors. Outdoor sport and leisure facilities open. Organised sport allowed outdoors. Social distancing still applies. National bodies guidance to be followed. | Rule of 6 or two households outdoors. No household mixing indoors. Childrens activities restart indoors, “regardless of circumstance”. Covid-secure guidance remains. “Out of school settings” returns to normal activity. | Rule of 30 outdoors. Rule of 6 indoors. Adult indoor exercise permitted. Covid- secure guidance remains. | No limits on social contact. Revised guidance on reducing risk to be published including social distancing. | |
We can confirm that (in consultation with the National Youth Agency) Scouting in England will be moving back to the Amber readiness level from 29 March.
- From 29 March, we will move to Amber with Groups allowed to meet outdoors with no limit to group size
- From 12 April, both outdoors and indoors meetings will be allowed – but we await confirmation if the limit on numbers will also be lifted for indoor Scouting from this date or will remain at 15 young people plus leaders.
Scout HQ writes: The legal restriction on outdoor group sizes has been lifted, meaning there will be no restrictions on Section sizes able to meet outdoors. This will apply to all Sections including Scout Network, however for activities with no youth members present you will have to follow government guidelines for adults.
We’ve also received clarification from the NYA on the need for Sections to stay local for trips and visits (including hikes). Whilst it is encouraged that Sections stay in their local area there is no longer a legal requirement to do so. This means if a Section has no access to an outdoor space nearby, they will be permitted to travel a bit further.
Scout HQ has previously confirmed the following:
We’re still working with the Government on longer term plans for camping and larger group sizes but we expect these to be introduced steadily throughout the summer. We’ll also provide an update in tomorrow’s membership email around international travel.
As with the roadmap, all target dates are subject to the vaccination programme continuing at the same rate and the rate of infections reducing across the country.
It’s really important that social distancing and other COVID-19 safe measures are adhered to whilst we still have restrictions. We always need to consider the risks as we’re dealing with different strains of the virus and the majority of people at our meetings will not have been vaccinated yet. Outdoor meetings are being relaxed initially due to the lower risk of transmission outdoors, and we would recommend meeting outdoors where you can in the spring and summer months.
Taking part in Scouts is voluntary for all leaders and young people and nobody should be pressured to return to face-to-face meetings before they are comfortable doing so. We hope that by April every young person is able to take part in Scouting provision whether that be online or face-to-face.
If Groups have had an amber risk assessment approved this will still be valid, but we’d encourage them to review their risk assessment before meeting again. There is no requirement to resubmit the risk assessment to Districts for approval unless they’re making a big change to the way they plan to operate. For those Groups who’ve not yet had an Amber risk assessment approved, we would encourage you to reach out and provide support if they need it.
Richmond District writes:
We will keep you updated via this page and the details will be set out on our “Getting Back Together” page and sub-pages in our Members area.