It has been announced today that Plan B COVID rules in England are to be dropped from next week. This comes as cases and hospitalisations begin to decline. These are the changes that will be coming into force from next week, and how they will affect the fenestration sector in England.

COVID Plan B scrapped

This is what is going to change in England as Plan B COVID measures are rolled back:

  • mandatory COVID passports for large venues and events will end – venues can still choose to enforce them or not
  • work from home guidance ends
  • mandatory wearing of masks will end – people will still be encouraged to wear them in enclosed spaced and when people meet strangers
  • wearing of masks in school classrooms and other areas of school will end from Thursday 20th January

The Government is also planning to remove the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive. It will be replaced by guidance and advice.

Plan B COVID rules being scrapped will have a number of effects on the fenestration industry in England. It will mean customers entering showrooms will no longer be mandated to wear a mask. Businesses will be able to give people the choice, but nothing can be legally enforced. The ending of working from home guidance will also mean that companies in this sector will be able to bring their staff members back in. The reality though is flexible working is likely to remain for many, with the working week split between office hours and home hours, depending on the job role.

These rule changes only apply to England of course. Other areas of the UK, such as Scotland, are keeping mask mandates in place, which sees them travel a different road to England. It may be though that the rules once again change in other parts of the UK to line up with those in England.

Plan B COVID rules being rolled back will signal to many that perhaps we’re coming out of the other end of this finally. There will be a mix of relief and concern. Whether we’re completely out of the woods yet remains to be seen. But the scrapping of Plan B is a step in the right direction.

To get weekly updates from DGB sent to your inbox, enter your email address in the space below to subscribe:

By subscribing you agree to DGB sending you weekly email updates with all published content on this website, as well as any major updates to the services being run on DGB. Your data is never passed on to third parties or used by external advertising companies. Your data is protected and stored on secure servers run by Fivenines UK Ltd.