NICF Blog
Carpet Retailers set to reopen on 12 April
The Government has announced that the next step of the reopening roadmap, Step 2, will take place as planned on 12 April.
This will be the date that "non-essential retail" can reopen. This includes carpet retailers and showrooms, which have had to be closed under the terms of the latest lockdown. The full announcement is here.
It should be noted that the rules on social contact still apply. Therefore indoor settings should only be visited alone or with household groups, with outdoor settings limited to either six people or two households.
The PM also announced an expansion of the testing programme, with everyone in England able to apply for testing kits to be used twice weekly at home.
From today companies, with 10 or more employees who cannot work from home, can order home test kits for their employees, where it is not possible to set up a testing site in the workplace. Employers, who wish to carry out workplace testing, have until Monday 12 April to register for workplace testing. Build UK has produced a guide summarising the process.
The Government has also published an update on the latest reviews of the roadmap. This covers areas such as covid certification, events, international travel and social distancing. The review can be accessed here.
It should be understood that the above changes to regulations apply to England. The situation in the devolved nations of the UK may be different and can be checked at the following links: