The general position on self isolation:
All travel corridors have been suspended from 4am 18 January 2021 until at least 15 February 2021. All international arrivals will still need to complete a passenger locator form and to self-isolate for 10 days, unless they are exempt or they take part in the Test to Release scheme (only applicable in England).
From 8 June 2020 new rules require all new international arrivals to self-isolate for a period of up to 10 full days, unless they are on a shortlist of exemptions or are arriving from one of the countries with travel corridor exemption from 10 July 2020 onwards (see below for more information). This therefore includes new foreign workers and your existing workers who have travelled abroad for any reason and are returning to the UK.
The 10 day period starts from the day after the traveller leaves a country which is not on the travel corridor list. More information on this and how to self-isolate upon arrival is available here. However, from 15 December 2020 the 10-day period may be reduced for passengers arriving into England who comply with the ‘Test to Release’ strategy. Please see further on within this section for more details.
All international arrivals are required to supply their contact and accommodation information. Anybody refusing to supply these details may be fined £500 in England or £60 in Wales, and non-British nationals may not be allowed into the UK. Any of these international arrivals (including returning UK residents) not on a short list of exemptions, in England or Wales will be required to self-isolate in their accommodation for up to ten full days on arrival into the UK. Where international travellers are unable to demonstrate where they would self-isolate, they will be required to do so in accommodation arranged by the Government. Anybody refusing to comply with the self-isolation requirements may be fined £1000 in England or £500 in Wales for a first fixed penalty notice.
All journeys within the Common Travel Area will also be exempt from these measures. The measures and list of exemptions will be kept under regular review. It is possible to sign up for email alerts concerning any changes to the travel corridor lists in England here.
From 10 July 2020, new arrivals (UK residents and international visitors) will not have to self-isolate when they arrive in England or Wales, if they:
This applies to all travel by train, ferry, coach, air or any other route. The list of travel corridors will be kept under review and it is essential that the up to date list is used when checking if there is a travel corridor in place for the day of arrival into the UK.
If they have been to or stopped in a country that’s not on the travel corridors exemption list they will have to self-isolate until 10 days have passed since they left that country, unless they fall within one of the exemptions.
This includes situations where travellers have arrived into any nation in the UK and then travelled to another nation within the UK as their final destination. The devolved nations are responsible for setting their own travel corridors and there may differences between each list. Travellers will not be able to avoid self-isolation by arriving into one of those nations in the UK where their departure country was on that nation’s travel corridor list, if it is not on the travel corridor list of their final destination ie where they live or are travelling to. For example, a person travelling to England from a country that it not on the English travel corridor list will still need to self-isolate when they get to their final destination in England if they land/arrive in Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland, regardless of the travel corridor list of the nation where they first arrived/landed.
Both visitors and UK residents will still need to complete a passenger locator form before their arrival to any nation in the UK and this must be presented on arrival to the UK even where there is no need to self-isolate.
Test to Release
All travel corridors have been suspended from 4am 18 January 2021 until at least 15 February 2021. All international arrivals will still need to complete a passenger locator form and to self-isolate for 10 days, unless they are exempt or they take part in the Test to Release scheme (only applicable in England).
Passengers arriving into England from countries not featured on the government’s travel corridor list from 15 December 2020 may be able to reduce mandatory self-isolation, if they take an optional coronavirus (COVID-19) test at least five days after they have left a destination not on the travel corridor list. Self-isolation will need to continue until the test results are obtained. If the test is negative, they will no longer need to continue self-isolating until the end of the 10 day period.
If the test result is positive, they must continue to self-isolate for a further 10 full days. People in the same household or support bubble must also then self-isolate for 10 full days. The isolation period includes the date the test was taken or any symptoms started and the next 10 full days.
If test is inconclusive the passenger must continue to self-isolate but they may choose to take another privately provided test.
If they should develop symptoms after a negative test, they must follow the usual guidance on self-isolation and seek out an NHS test and trace test as soon as possible, even if they have recently received a negative result from a private test. If the NHS test is positive they must continue to self-isolate for 10 full days. The isolation period includes the date the symptoms started and the next 10 full days.
Those who choose to opt into the scheme will have to book and pay for a test from a private provider on the GOV.UK list, they will not be eligible to use the NHS Test and Trace for this type of test, unless they have coronavirus symptoms. Tests provided by the NHS Test & Trace will not allow a passenger to shorten their isolation period. Passengers who have used the NHS Test and Trace because they have coronavirus symptoms, must continue to self-isolate if the result from an NHS Test & Trace test is negative. They may be fined if they use a negative NHS test result to try to end their self-isolation period early, only a negative test that has been paid for under the Test to Release scheme can be used to end the self-isolation period earlier than 10 days.
The private test will need to be booked before travel to England. Upon arrival in England passengers will still need to complete a passenger locator form where they can choose to opt into the scheme and self-isolate for 5 days before the test can be taken. If the test is not booked until after arrival in England, a new passenger locator form will need to be completed.
Passengers who choose not to take the optional test and have no other exemption applicable to them, will need to self-isolate as usual for 10 days.
The scheme details can be found here.
Seasonal poultry workers exemption:
Seasonal workers coming to England from 17 November 2020 to carry out specific activities in poultry processing on a named farm or processing site were subject to different rules on the requirement to self-isolate upon their arrival in England. However, to rely on this exemption they needed to have left England before 31 December 2020 so therefore this exemption is no longer applicable.
Seasonal agricultural worker exemption:
The exemptions for the English and Welsh borders where there is no relevant travel corridor include seasonal agricultural workers who have an offer of employment for seasonal work to carry out specific activities in edible horticulture on a named farm. It is important to note that this particular exemption does not extend to any other areas of farm work and is specifically in relation to seasonal workers, therefore not covering your existing permanent workers.
Details on this exemption are available here and there is also specific guidance for workers and employers here. The legislation has defined specific activities as:
- crop maintenance,
- crop harvesting,
- tunnel construction and dismantling,
- irrigation installation and maintaining,
- crop husbandry,
- packing and processing of crops on employers’ premises,
- preparing and dismantling growing areas and media,
- general primary production work in edible horticulture,
- activities relating to supervising teams of horticulture workers.
They can start work immediately but they must self-isolate on the farm for the first full 10 days and must live on the farm. They are allowed to mix with fellow workers but can only leave the farm for very limited purposes. There is guidance available for those who are self-isolating when they have travelled to the UK.
However, anybody who is exempt will still need to follow the same rules on social distancing and staying at home where possible. If any of these workers develop symptoms of coronavirus or live with a person who has developed symptoms of coronavirus, they should follow the guidance on self-isolating.
Anybody intending to rely on the exemption will need to provide in advance their contact details including where they are staying. It is important therefore, that you ensure you have given the full and correct address of the farm to the worker prior to their arrival in the UK.
They will also need documentary evidence to prove they have travelled to the UK to carry out seasonal agricultural work at your farm. You will, therefore, need to ensure that you have provided this either by letter or email prior to the start of their journey. We have a template letter for employers in England to use and a separate template letter for employers in Wales to use. Both of these templates are only suitable to use where your workers are from the EU and they fall within the full seasonal worker exemption. They are not suitable for use if your workers are from outside of the EU.
When the worker arrives in the UK they must go straight to the farm and somebody from the farm should collect them from the airport, port or station wherever possible.
Within 2 hours of workers arriving at the farm, you should give them:
For more detail on the health and safety steps you should take, please see 'COVID-secure' What you need to know.
Existing employees:
From 8 June 2020, employers will need to ensure that as well as any new starters, any existing employees returning from work or annual leave abroad comply with the self-isolation requirements, unless they are travelling from one of the countries on the travel corridors exemption list or are exempt. For the avoidance of doubt, they will not be covered by the seasonal workers exemption and therefore unless they fall under one of the other exemptions listed, they will have to self-isolate for up to 10 full days in England or 10 days in Wales in their own accommodation upon returning to the UK. A full list of the exemptions can be found here. They may however be eligible for the ‘Test to Release’ scheme (see above for more details).
Where employers know that employees are taking annual leave and are likely to be visiting a country which may not be on the travel corridor list at the time of their return to the UK, they should discuss the self-isolation requirements with the employee before they go away to ensure they understand the rules that apply on their return. Employers should agree how the employee's return will be managed. Consider working from home, unpaid or paid leave, or further annual leave to cover any self-isolation periods.
Guidance has been produced on self-isolating after returning to the UK to help employers and employees.
Pay:
Currently there are no provisions in place for this period of self-isolation to be paid or an entitlement to SSP. There is no obligation on employers to pay their employees self-isolating in these circumstances, but they may choose to do so, or may agree that the employee can take annual leave to cover this time, where possible. Where the employee is having to self-isolate due to a work related trip, it would be reasonable and advisable for an employer to give full pay for this period.
Coronavirus: testing for people travelling to England and Wales
From 4am 18 January 2021, passengers (including British citizens) arriving by boat, plane or train from all international destinations are required to present a negative COVID-19 test result before departing for England or Wales. The test must have been taken up to 72 hours prior to departure. Passengers will be subject to an immediate fine of £500 if they fail to comply with the new requirement. Passengers arriving from countries not on the government’s travel corridor list must self-isolate for 10 days regardless of their pre-departure test result to provide further protection from those travelling from high-risk countries.
Passengers will need to find their own test provider and ensure it meets the required standard.
Test results must be in English, French or Spanish – translations will not be accepted and they can be in a printed document or as an email or text message.
More detail is available online for those travelling to England and for those travelling to Wales about what counts as a suitable test, where a passenger may be able to find information on where they can source a test and what data needs to be included with the test results.