Coronavirus: enforcing restrictions

Various restrictions and requirements have been placed on individuals and businesses to help slow the spread of coronavirus in England and Wales:

• Lockdown restrictions: Rules have been imposed which require people to “stay home” or “stay local” or stay in the United Kingdom. Rules have prevented different types of gatherings. Some businesses have been required to close or operate under restrictions.
• Face covering requirements: Most people are required to wear a face covering on public transport, in shops and businesses and in other public spaces.
• International quarantine requirements: People arriving to England/ Wales are required to quarantine for at least ten days on arrival. People who have been through specific countries are required to quarantine in designated hotels.
• Self-isolation requirements: People who have tested positive for coronavirus (or come into close contact with someone who has) are required to self-isolate.

Responsibility for enforcing coronavirus restrictions is shared between several public agencies. Some private businesses also have responsibilities.

Police approach to coronavirus restrictions

The police have adopted a “four-phase approach” to policing coronavirus restrictions in which enforcement is “the last resort”:

• Engage: officers speak to people and try to establish their “awareness and understanding of the situation”.
• Explain: officers “try to education people” about the coronavirus risks.
• Encourage: officers encourage people to “act reasonably”.
• Enforce: officers may “as a last resort, remove a person to the place where they live, using reasonable force only if it is a necessary and proportionate means of ensuring compliance”.

Police powers

The police (and others if designated) have a range of new powers they can use to enforce coronavirus restriction regulations:

• They can issue directions requiring people they suspect have broken the rules to disperse.
• They can issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to those they suspect are breaking or have broken coronavirus rules. Those issued with an FPN under coronavirus regulations can pay a fine to avoid criminal proceedings.
• They can also use “reasonable force if necessary” to enforce the regulations. This means they can use force to take people who break the rules back to their homes.
• They can make an arrest (if necessary) and formally charge suspects with an offence.
• Police in Wales can enter people’s homes without permission to enforce coronavirus restrictions in certain circumstances.

Enforcement statistics

94.368 FPNs were issued in England and Wales under lockdown regulations between 27 March 2020 and the 14 March 2021.

Police in England have issued more FPNs during national lockdowns. There is evidence that they have issued more fines in the third national lockdown than the first and second. During the first national lockdown the police issued an average of 1,423 FPNs per week. In the first ten weeks of the third national lockdown they issued an average of 4,936 (more than three times the average in lockdown one).

The number of FPNs issued for other coronavirus restrictions/ requirements has been small:

• 3,140 FPNs have been issued under face coverings regulations between 15 June and 14 March.
• 508 FPNs were issued by police forces to those failing to follow international quarantine rules up to 14 March.
• Data is not yet available for enforcement of self-isolation.