Ch, ch, ch Changes?

With more and more parts of the country moving into higher tiers of lockdown in the coming weeks and months we ask ourselves, are any more changes afoot? What does this mean for trades people? In short, not a lot. At least not at the moment.

As a result of this shifting landscape tradesmen nationwide have been keen to get a proper update as to how the Government’s latest announcement affect them. Who knew it would all end in tiers?

What We Know

To tackle a few, firstly there won’t be any changes to the way in which tradesmen & tradeswomen are working in other people's homes, so we are safe in the knowledge that for now, working in customer’s homes won't be impacted. If you are working at a customer's property, you are classed as an exception to the rule of six and "are not counted as part of the gatherings limit." So, if you are booked in for some work in the coming weeks and the area of your work moves into a new tier, then don’t worry, you are still okay to work there. You must of course continue to follow COVID guidelines.

We understand that working in the trades can mean a fair bit of travel, especially in times like these. We get it, finding your next job can be difficult when people are airing on the side of caution, and travelling across counties or even the entire country may be a necessary step. Moving to and from a 'Very High / Tier 3' area is not recommended but is allowed if it is for work purposes. This means that whilst finding work can be difficult during these times, fortunately cross-county / city travel is still permitted (so you’ll still be able to get that McDonalds breakfast from your favourite service station for the time being).

Probably the most impactful change to any industry is to the hospitality sector. The further restrictions being brought in will have a significant impact upon restaurants and pubs, where many wet pubs (pubs that just serve drinks) will be forced to close. Those offering food will be allowed to continue to serve drinks, but just as long as they're bought alongside a "substantial meal."

"That'll be one roast dinner, 3 Jägerbombs, a pint of lager and three bottles of wine please bar keep!"

A break-down of what each tier's rules are can be found here.

What Further Changes Could be Made?

With Wales and the Republic of Ireland moving back into full lockdowns for the time being, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility if England was to follow suit.

With the new three tier system only just coming into play over the last week, we would hope that this would have a positive effect on the number of cases being reported around the country. If the cases start to level off or, hopefully, fall then some of the restrictions will be lifted.

As frustrating as this has been for everyone, only time will tell whether these measurers will have the impact we are all so desperate for.

What Can We Do?

For the time being, there is not an awful lot that trades people up and down the country can do, other than ‘keep calm and carry on’ all whilst observing and following the CV-19 guidelines. We at Rhino are continuing to offer competitive trade insurance to workers all across the UK and have been hard at work to keep our prices low and our service levels high.