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People in England now face £ 10,000 fines for abandoning self-isolation as a conservative revolt against strict coronavirus laws builds.
Starting today, you will be fined £ 1,000 for the first offense if you fail to isolate yourself when directed by the council or the NHS Test and Trace.
Ministers say the new laws are vital to protecting the public as coronavirus cases rise, and there will be a £ 500 payment to help those with lower incomes obey the rules.
But the ministers are facing a conservative revolt over their decision not to give MPs a vote, or no scrutiny of the laws.
This week an amendment could be presented that would force future Covid-19 laws to be submitted to a vote in Parliament. Labor and Liberal Democrats have suggested they will support dozens of Conservative MPs to challenge the government.
(Image: Getty Images)
The laws are in addition to a legal 10 p.m. curfew in pubs and restaurants, enforced last week, which has been accused of making things worse by pushing people onto the streets.
And there are elements in today’s laws that were not even announced to the public before they were published on a Sunday night, much less subject to scrutiny in Parliament.
For example, it is now a crime to force your enemies to isolate themselves by pretending that you went to the pub with them.
You will be fined £ 4,000 on the first offense for leaving isolation “recklessly”. You can be fined for hiding your family from Test and Trace, not keeping your teenager in your bedroom, or even not telling your boss why you are home.
These are some of the key things we have learned that are now illegal by reading the new law.
Note that these laws apply only to England, although some similar laws have gone into effect in other nations of the UK.
1. Leave self-isolation (£ 1,000 fine)
The new law prohibits people from leaving self-isolation, and first offenders can be fined £ 1,000. That rises to £ 2,000, £ 4,000 and £ 10,000 for second, third and fourth offenses.
That means if you test positive for Covid-19, by law you must stay where you live, and not even go out to exercise, for 10 days after your symptoms started.
This time period may be slightly different if your test took too long to take or come back. In these rare cases, the 10-day clock will start five days before the test is done.
In the meantime, you must now also legally isolate yourself for 14 days if you came into contact with a positive Covid-19 case, and the NHS Test and Trace instructs you to isolate yourself.
The 14-day period begins when the person you came in contact with first developed symptoms of the coronavirus.
There are some exemptions (at the end of this article) and the law only covers some of the circumstances where you need to isolate yourself.
For example, guide says you should isolate for 10 days as soon as you develop symptoms of Covid-19. But the law only start applying once you have tested positive.
Y guide says you should isolate yourself for 14 days if you come in close contact with someone who has tested positive. But the law It only applies if you are officially informed after Monday, September 28. This means being informed by the NHS Test and Trace or a council official. It does not Include if you are instructed to isolate yourself via an alert in the new Covid-19 app.
2. Leaving self-isolation ‘recklessly’ (£ 4,000)
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It is now a special crime to “recklessly” leave self-isolation in a way that puts another person in danger.
This offense carries a much higher fine of £ 4,000 for first offenders, increasing to £ 10,000 for a second offense.
Like other crimes, the police can impose this fine on you on the spot, and if you don’t pay it, they will take you to court.
For this law to apply, the following four things must happen:
- You left self-isolation without a reasonable excuse
- You had reason to believe that you would come into close contact with another person or group.
- Then you did come into close contact with another person or group
- You were “reckless about the consequences of that close contact for that other person’s health.”
In other words, the person you met doesn’t actually need to contract coronavirus to receive a £ 4,000 fine.
3. Sew on your enemy or ex (£ 1,000)
(Image: Getty Images / iStockphoto)
Now that it’s illegal to give up self-isolation, it could be tempting to ruin an enemy’s month by telling Test and Trace that you met them at the pub, when in fact you didn’t.
If they had tested positive for coronavirus, the law would force them to self-isolate for two weeks.
So for that reason, there is a special clause in the law to prevent people from falsely and vindictively forcing others to self-quarantine.
You are committing a criminal offense if you “knowingly falsely state” to Test and Trace or a council official that “someone is a close contact of a person who has tested positive for coronavirus.”
If you are caught you may be fined £ 1,000 for the first offense, £ 2,000 for the second, £ 4,000 for a third and £ 10,000 for the fourth.
4. Not knowingly naming your family for Test and Trace (£ 1,000)
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Just as it is a crime to wrongly force friends into isolation, it is a crime to wrongly help them avoid it.
This is because it is now a crime to “knowingly give false information” about aspects of self-isolation, either to the mostly outsourced NHS Test and Trace, or to the local council public health team.
For example, the law says that you must name everyone in your household if requested by NHS Test and Trace or the council.
This is because if your Covid-19 test is positive, your home must be isolated with you for 14 days.
You are also required by law to inform Test and Trace or the council, if asked, the direction in which you plan to isolate yourself.
If you provide false information about any of these things, you are committing a crime. If you are caught you will be fined £ 1,000 for the first offense, then £ 2,000, £ 4,000 and £ 10,000 if you are caught again.
5. Failing to ensure that your children remain isolated (£ 1,000)
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The fines in the new laws apply to adults over 18 years of age.
But children are not exempt, because the adult “responsible” for them can be fined in the same way if he does not do everything possible to keep the child isolated.
The responsible adult should inform Test and Trace or the council, if requested, the direction in which the child will self-isolate.
And that adult must “ensure, as far as possible, that the child isolates himself for the specified period.”
If you are a responsible adult and fail to do so, you will face the same scale of fines as if you were abandoning self-isolation: £ 1,000, then £ 2,000, £ 4,000 and £ 10,000. Even if you have a rebellious teenager.
6. Don’t tell your boss that you are isolating yourself (£ 50)
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Unless you work from home, it is now a legal requirement to tell your boss if you have been ordered to self-isolate.
That includes telling your employer the start and end date of your isolation period.
You are supposed to do this “as soon as reasonably possible” and, in any case, before the next time you get to work.
Similar laws apply to agency workers, whose employers have a legal obligation to pass the information on the chain to the company that hired an agency in the first place.
The fine for not doing this is much less, at £ 50.
7. Forcing an isolated employee to come to work (£ 1,000 or more)
Not all fines are for individuals. Companies can also be fined £ 1,000, rising to £ 2,000, £ 4,000 and £ 10,000 for repeat offenses, if they force self-isolation staff to work.
It is an offense to “knowingly allow” the worker to “go anywhere other than” where he is isolated, for employment purposes.
This excludes places where anyone is legally allowed to go while in isolation (see list of exemptions below).
Like other crimes, it is punishable by a fixed penalty, but it can also lead to judicial proceedings.
If a corporate entity commits a crime and “negligence, consent or collusion” is found by a director or manager, that manager can be prosecuted personally.
Plus … no mask (£ 200)
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This is not a new law, but it is worth remembering that it is a legal requirement to wear a face covering in a wide variety of places in England, including shops, supermarkets and pubs; see the full list here.
And since last week, the fine for a first offense has doubled from £ 100 to £ 200.
For repeat offenders it amounts to £ 400, £ 800, £ 1,600, £ 3,200 and then £ 6,400 each time you are caught again.
Unlike the other fines above, which are not cut in half if you pay them earlier, the fines for not wearing a mask are cut in half if you pay them within 14 days.
Police do not need to show that they have, and can use ‘reasonable force’ to return home
The police do not need to prove that you have broken the law to impose a fine.
Instead, they are legally authorized to impose a fine if they “reasonably believe” that you have committed a crime.
Fines are given on the spot and there is no way to appeal, other than going to court (below).
The police may also use “reasonable force” to remove you from where you are currently, or to return you to where you have been isolating yourself.
If you refuse to pay, you can get a criminal record
If you are fined, you have 28 days to pay.
If you pay this fine, you will not have a criminal record.
However, if you obstruct the police or refuse to pay the fine within 28 days, you can be arrested and charged with a crime.
The Crown Prosecution Service can take an accusation to a magistrate court, as can your local council.
Once in court, you can argue to a magistrate panel that your fine was unfair and that you did not break the law.
If the magistrates agree with you, your fine will be erased and you will be found not guilty.
However, if the magistrates find you guilty, you will obtain a criminal record and will likely be fined much higher.
Where you have to isolate yourself
You must self-isolate in one of the following places:
Once you are in this place, you cannot leave it, except for the reasons below, until the time is up.
What does ‘close contact’ mean
- Have face-to-face contact within 1 meter,
- Spend more than 15 minutes within 2 meters, or
- Traveling in a car or other small vehicle with a person or very close by on an airplane.
Full list of reasons you can come out of isolation
You cannot leave where you live except “when necessary” in the following circumstances.
This is an exhaustive list, according to the law. If a reason is not on this list, you cannot use it.
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