The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Steps) (England) Regulations 2021

Regulation 8

SCHEDULE 5 Reasonable excuses to travel outside the United Kingdom

1.  Where P is travelling to a destination in the common travel area (unless that destination is not P’s final destination).

2.  Where it is reasonably necessary for a person (“P”) to leave the United Kingdom for the purposes of P’s work, if it is not reasonably possible for P to work from a location within the United Kingdom.

3.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom to provide voluntary or charitable services, where it is not reasonably possible for those services to be provided from a location within the United Kingdom.

4.  Where P is enrolled on a course of study—

(a) at an institution outside the United Kingdom on the date on which this Schedule came into force, and it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom to attend that course;

(b) at an educational institution in the United Kingdom, and—

(i) it is reasonably necessary for P to travel outside the United Kingdom to satisfy one or more requirements of their course of study, or

(ii) P needs to travel outside the United Kingdom to return home on one occasion on or after 29th March but before 29th April 2021 for the purposes of a vacation.

5.  Where P is an elite sportsperson, a coach of an elite sportsperson, or (in the case of an elite sportsperson who is under the age of 18), a parent of the elite sportsperson, and it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom for the purposes of training or competition.

6.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom to fulfil a legal obligation or to participate in legal proceedings.

7.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom to undertake any of the following activities in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property—

(a) visiting estate or letting agents, developer sales offices or show homes;

(b) viewing residential properties to look for a property to buy or to rent;

(c) preparing a residential property to move in;

(d) moving house;

(e) to visit a residential property to undertake any activities required for the rental or sale of that property.

8.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom—

(a) to seek medical assistance,

(b) to attend a clinical appointment,

(c) to avoid illness, injury or to escape a risk of harm,

(d) to attend an expectant mother giving birth (“M”), at M’s request, or

(e) to visit a person (“V”) receiving treatment in a hospital or staying in a hospice or care home, or to accompany V to a medical appointment and P is—

(i) a member of V’s household,

(ii) a close family member of V, or

(iii) a friend of V.

9.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom—

(a) to provide care and assistance to a vulnerable person,

(b) to provide emergency assistance to any person,

(c) to visit a person (“D”) whom P reasonably believes is dying, and P is—

(i) a member of D’s household,

(ii) a close family member of D, or

(iii) a friend of D,

(d) to attend a funeral.

10.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom to attend a wedding or a civil partnership ceremony where—

(a) P is one of the persons getting married or becoming civil partners, or a close family member of one of the persons getting married or becoming civil partners, and

(b) one or both of the persons getting married or becoming civil partners live outside the United Kingdom.

11.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to leave the United Kingdom—

(a) for the purposes of arrangements for access to, and contact between, parents and a child where the child does not live in the same country as their parents or one of their parents,

(b) for the purposes of arrangements for contact between siblings where they do not live in the same country and one or more of them—

(i) is a child looked after by a local authority, within the meaning of section 22 of the Children Act 1989, or a relevant child, within the meaning of section 23A of that Act, or

(ii) is a child having equivalent status under the law of a country outside the United Kingdom, or

(c) for the purposes of arrangements for prospective adopters (including their household) to meet a child or children who may be placed with the prospective adopters.

12.  Where it is reasonably necessary for P to travel outside the United Kingdom in order to vote in an election or a referendum being held in a state outside the United Kingdom, where it is not possible for P to vote in the United Kingdom.

13.  Where P is only in the United Kingdom on a temporary basis, and is not resident in the United Kingdom.

14.  Where P is the child or dependent of a person who has a reasonable excuse to travel outside the United Kingdom, and it is not reasonably possible for alternative arrangements to be made for P’s care.