Christmas Rules & Bubbles
Christmas bubble: an indoor gathering of up to 3 households permitted only on Christmas day.
Support bubble: an on-going relationship between a single person household and another household. They may meet indoors on a regular basis (and can travel to be together) and are, to all intents and purposes, treated as a single household. A support bubble may join a Christmas bubble and be treated as a single household in doing so.
Childcare bubble: an on-going relationship between two households, at least one of whom has a child under 14. Both households may indoors mix for the purposes of providing childcare for the under-14 child(ren). If the child moves between separated parents, each parent may form a childcare bubble with another household.
In Tiers 1-3, Christmas bubbles can now only be formed on 25th December. Households must agree a single bubble and cannot switch between them at different times (with the exception of under-18 children of separated parents, who may join a Christmas bubble with each of their parents). You cannot stay overnight within the bubble, however you may use private rented accommodation from the 24th – 26th it the trip cannot be managed in a single day.
In Tier 4, you cannot form a Christmas bubble as in other tiers. In effect, Christmas becomes a day like any other for Tier 4 with no special exemptions. You cannot leave Tier 4 to join a Christmas bubble in another area. However, existing support and childcare bubbles may stay in place. You can therefore spend Christmas Day with members of your support or childcare bubble, even if this means entering or leaving a Tier 4 area. Under-18 children of separated parents may visit both parents on or around Christmas Day, regardless of whether this involves travel between tiers.
More information is online here.
