News

COVID-19: Plans to ease lockdown announced for England and Scotland

Tuesday, 23 February 2021

 

The UK Prime Minister and Scotland’s First Minister have outlined their plans for the taking England and Scotland out of the current ‘stay at home’ restriction. Both leaders have given indicative timeframes, which give the equestrian sector a guide for when activity can resume, businesses can open and competitions can recommence. 

In Wales, lockdown restrictions continue with the next review due on 12 March, while a lockdown extension until 1 April was recently announced in Northern Ireland, with a review scheduled for 18 March. 

While certain details around the easing of restrictions and how they affect the equestrian industry are still awaiting clarification, below is British Equestrian’s current understanding of the situation. 

England

The key dates and headlines are:

Step One – part A: from 8 March 

• Two people can meet outdoors to socialise
• All schools return

Step One – part B: from 29 March

• Six people or two households can meet outdoors
• Outdoor sports facilities to open and organised sport allowed
• Travel outside local area allowed

Step Two: from 12 April 

• Non-essential retail can open
• Outdoor hospitality is permitted
• Self-contained accommodation hire permitted 

Step Three: from 17 May

• Many social contact restrictions lifted outdoors
• Six people or two households can meet indoors
• Indoor hospitality and hotels open

Step Four: from 21 June           

• All legal limits on social contact removed

This would indicate that those equestrian centres and other businesses who are education or training providers could start one-to-one sessions from 8 March, while most other activity – sport or leisure – can resume from 29 March. Our member bodies are working on various ‘return to play’ plans for release in the coming days with specific details for their sectors and stakeholder groups. 

England – full ‘roadmap’

Scotland

The key dates and headlines are: 

Phase One: 22 February

• Partial return to school for some age groups

Phase Two: 15 March (anticipated)

• Next phase of return of children to school - primary and some secondary pupils
• Non-contact outdoor sports to return for 12-17 year olds
• Four people from two households allowed to mix outdoors

Phase Three: 5 April (anticipated)

• Stay at home restriction removed
• All children return to school
• Communal worship can restart with restricted numbers of 20
• Six people from two households can meet together
• Easing restrictions on indoor household gatherings
• Further essential retail can begin to re-open

Phase Four: 26 April (anticipated)

• All of Scotland return to Level system of restrictions
• Phased return of non-essential retail
• Some hospitality, leisure venues and gyms can re-open

Scotland – strategic update

These details have only just been released and now require further consideration on how they impact the equine industry, but this could signal a restart to activity no later than 26 April. We’ll work with horsescotland and the member bodies, and provide any further clarification if required in the coming days.

CEO comment

British Equestrian CEO Iain Graham commented; “While there is still detail to be clarified, we now have a strong indication from the governments of England and Scotland of when we can return to activity, training, competing and just enjoying our equestrian lives once again. It’s very welcome news and gives hope to many that an end is in sight, provided of course we all play our part. For our stakeholders in Wales and Northern Ireland, we’ll continue to push for the opening up of activity in a safe timeframe. Thank you to all of you in the equestrian community, it’s been a difficult 11 months with so many impacted, but now we can look to building our industry back and recover stronger than ever.”

We’ll continue to provide updates and further details for the equestrian sector as they are made available to us from governments or supporting bodies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland