While Everyone’s Been Talking About Pubs Reopening, We All Just Want To Know When We Can See Our Families Indoors Again

With Boris Johnson announcing the latest lockdown review today at 7pm, Google is in overdrive with people asking questions about what to expect. One huge one? When we can stay overnight with family again.

For those of us living in different cities to our families, it’s a particularly important one. Anyone who didn’t escape London during 2020 will likely not have seen their family for a long time – and Google Trends tell us they’re desperate to. ‘When will I be able to stay overnight with family?’ is a top search term for the UK, with ‘Can support bubbles stay overnight?’ a close second.

With that in mind, we’ve set out to answer that question for you.

Can support bubbles stay overnight?

Yes, and you can even in national lockdown right now. According to the government website, ‘you are permitted to leave your home to visit your support bubble (and to stay overnight with them). However, if you form a support bubble, it is best if this is with a household who live locally. This will help prevent the virus spreading from an area where more people are infected.’

So, if one of your family members is in your support bubble, then you can stay overnight with them even now. However, for the rest of your family or anyone outside your support bubble, we’re still not allowed to mix indoors (at best, you can meet one other person for exercise outdoors under current rules).

When will that change though? With the roadmap out of lockdown being announced today – and leaks literally all over the internet – at what point will mixing indoors outside of our support bubbles be okay?

When will I be able to stay overnight with family?

Well, for anyone not in your support bubble, it seems mixing indoors and thus staying overnight is a long way off. While Boris Johnson is expected to announce that two households can gather from the 29th of March, that is restricted to outdoor only gatherings – where the risk of transmission is significantly lower. From this date, the BBC reports people will be able to travel out of their areas, but the government will recommend staying local and overnight stays will not be permitted.

According to reports, socialising inside people’s homes will be the last restrictions to be eased and will likely not come until June. Even then, social distancing will be recommended and there will likely be limits on how many people can gather.

Indoor socialising, and overnight stays, will depend on the four tests for easing restrictions which include the success of the vaccination programme continuing and avoiding a surge in infection rates or new variants fundamentally changing risks.

If all goes well and indoor socialising is permitted, it’s important to note that overnight stays may still be restricted outside of support bubbles. So, while you can visit family whether or not you’ll be able to stay over is another question. But, even now, there are instances in which staying overnight away from home is allowed.

According to the government website, ‘you are allowed to stay overnight away from your home if you:

are visiting your support bubble

are unable to return to your main residence

need accommodation while moving house

need accommodation to attend a funeral or related commemorative event

require accommodation for work purposes or to provide voluntary services

are a child requiring accommodation for school or care

are homeless, seeking asylum, a vulnerable person seeking refuge, or if escaping harm (including domestic abuse)

are an elite athlete or their support staff or parent, if the athlete is under 18 and it is necessary to be outside of the home for training or competition’

While this might not be the most hopeful of news, remember that it’s expected we can still meet someone from outside your household, outdoors, for a chat from the 8th of March – and can gather with family in groups of six (or two households) from the 29th. Even if it’s just for a day visit, there is hope we can connect with family soon.

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