The following restrictions for all households in Northern Ireland were introduced from 6.00 pm on 22 September 2020:

no mixing of households in private dwellings, with exemptions for:
– bubbling with one other household
– caring responsibilities, including childcare
– building or maintenance work, or the services of any trade or profession
– supported living arrangements
– visits required for legal or medical purposes
– a business operating from a person’s home
– a funeral
– a house move, and to undertake associated activities for that purpose, including viewing properties and making arrangements for removals
– marriage or civil partnership ceremony in a private dwelling where one partner is terminally ill
– no more than six people to gather in a private garden from no more than two households -children aged 12 and under from those two households are not counted in this total

Households are no longer allowed to mix indoors in private homes. This is because meeting friends and family indoors carries a higher risk than meeting outdoors.

You can form a bubble with one other household. These two households can be any size, however gatherings indoors should be no more than six people. Children aged 12 and under from those two households are not counted in this total.

Exemptions apply for those with caring responsibilities and you can continue to provide support for elderly relatives or dependents.

It is important that people who were previously shielding are particularly careful at this time.

Children whose parents do not live in the same household can move between homes as normal.


More information can be found via the following link: www.nidirect.gov.uk

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