Originally Posted by
KARFA
It is. Tiers 1-3 never had any restrictions on leaving home or staying away from home. You can check the links in the wiki, this was all documented at the time by me on this thread.
Those links refer to guidelines not the law.
EDIT: I think the confusion here is between two restrictions:
1. A restriction on you that you could not stay away from home overnight, this was never in the tier system but we did have this during June 2020. this would prevent you staying away from home overnight which includes staying away within the UK or outside,
2. A restriction on hotels taking guests for leisure/holiday stays, we did have this in tiers 3 & 4 (apologies I may have just said tier 4 earlier) and it was the restriction on the hotels not on the individual.
Based on what has been reported it seems from 29 March stay at home will be revoked, but instead we will have 1 just as happened last year. I think staying away from home, both within the UK or abroad is unlikely until April at the earliest, i.e. we will have 1 for at least 4-5 weeks before it is relaxed further.
So I think I understand - while all the newspapers reported a no overnight stay away from home in Tier 3 and certainly in Tier 4, that wasn't backed up by law? It was just guidance? Was the Tier 4 international travel ban also just guidance?
What I think the big questions for post-March 29 (though admittedly it could change again in after we migrate to overnight stays like self-catered holiday homes being allowed at least in England) are:
(1) Whether there is a new SI that basically makes it illegal to travel internationally commensurate with the current restrictions (which prohibit it based on the stay at home order)?
(2) If yes, whether that is actually enforced once the stay-at-home order is lifted, particularly at departure as is currently reported at least on a sporadic basis? I'm much likely to be discouraged from traveling on holiday if I risk being turned back by police at security (and presumably losing a bunch of money on non-refundable reservations) vs. just paying a fine if a UKBF agent isn't happy with me on return.
(3) If no, and its just no overnight order, is that being enforced in an airport? E.g., would I have to show proof of a same day return ticket if I wasn't able to prove I was traveling under an acceptable reason for an overnight stay?